How Bulk Diesel Is Priced: Rack, OPIS and Futures

How diesel is priced, from futures to your tank

There's no single "price of diesel." There's a price at every step between the refinery and your tank, and each one is published by someone different. A bulk delivered price stacks them like this:

Rack price "excluding taxes" per OPIS. Futures contract terms per CME Group.

How the layers split at the pump. EIA breaks the U.S. average retail diesel price into four parts. In May 2026, with diesel at $5.60 a gallon, crude oil was 42%, refining 25%, distribution and marketing 23%, and taxes 11%. The shares move: crude averaged about 51% of the retail price from 2004 through 2025. That breakdown is for a station pump price, not a bulk delivery, but the same pieces sit inside any delivered quote. For this week's retail and wholesale numbers, see the diesel price report.

Futures and spot: where the wholesale price comes from

The top of the stack is the market, and two prices describe it. NYMEX NY Harbor ULSD futures (code HO) price a standard 42,000-gallon contract for delivery in New York Harbor in a coming month; each month stops trading on the last business day of the month before delivery. Spot prices are for fuel delivered now at a trading hub. The price report explains both, and the fixed-price guide covers how futures become a fixed price.

What matters for a bulk buyer is how they connect to your local price:

• Spot is often quoted against futures. Platts, for example, assesses Gulf Coast ULSD as a differential to NYMEX ULSD futures. On Oct. 20, 2022, it assessed Gulf Coast ULSD for one Colonial Pipeline shipping cycle at 25.25 cents a gallon under November NYMEX futures, the weakest Gulf Coast differential since February 2015, after Colonial issued freeze notices on the line.
• That gap is the basis, and it moves. The CFTC defines basis as the difference between a spot or cash price and the price of the nearest futures contract. Pipeline space, refinery outages and local supply all push it around, which is why two regions can move differently on the same day.
• Price reporting agencies do the measuring. Spot prices aren't set on an exchange; price reporting agencies collect market data and publish assessments. The four main oil price reporting agencies, Argus, ICIS, OPIS and Platts, work to principles set by the international securities regulators' body IOSCO in 2012. Argus says its New York Harbor barge ULSD assessments are used in long-term contracts, downstream pricing and spot trades, and to settle derivatives listed on CME and ICE.

What is the rack price of diesel?

A terminal is a storage and distribution facility supplied by pipeline or vessel. The rack is the loading equipment that puts fuel into a truck or rail car rather than a pipeline or vessel (IRS Publication 510). The rack price is the wholesale price a supplier posts for fuel loaded there. EIA defines rack sales as truckload-or-smaller wholesale sales where title passes at a terminal.

The rack is also where federal tax starts. Under IRS rules, every removal of diesel at a terminal rack is taxable, and the position holder (whoever owns the fuel in the terminal's records) owes the tax. The tax isn't in the posted rack price, but it rides down the chain to your invoice. Dyed diesel is the exception: when it meets the IRS dyeing rules at an approved terminal, only the 0.1-cent LUST tax applies.

Getting fuel to the rack costs money too. OPIS publishes a Spot Replacement Index that adds the delivery costs of moving spot product to a particular rack, such as pipeline tariffs, fees and product shrinkage. That's the bridge between a hub's spot price and a local rack.

Freight: from the terminal to your site

Freight covers the haul from the rack to your tank, generator or yard. EIA notes that transport costs generally rise with distance from supply, and that areas farthest from the Gulf Coast, the source of about half of U.S. diesel production, tend to pay more. For a bulk delivery, three things drive the freight piece:

• Distance to the terminal the truck loads at. The rack your index references and the rack the truck actually loads at should be the same, or close. Ask which one your quote uses.
• Load size. Public contracts price small and large loads differently: Oregon's statewide bulk fuel agreement uses tank wagons usually for orders under 5,000 gallons and truck-and-trailer for larger ones, and Massachusetts' statewide heating oil contract sets separate differentials for loads under 8,000 gallons and for full truckloads.
• Where the product comes from. Not every terminal stocks every product. R99 renewable diesel, for example, isn't at every terminal; where it can't be pulled locally it ships by rail or barge, and that longer route is part of the delivered price.

How freight shows up varies. Some suppliers fold it into one per-gallon differential; others bill it as its own line. Oregon's agreement folds it in: the contractor's markup must include all costs, including transportation, labor and administrative fees, plus overhead and profit. Neither way is wrong, as long as you know which one you're comparing.

Diesel taxes: federal, state and what dyed fuel skips

Taxes are the most predictable layer, and the easiest to leave out of a quote's headline number. Federal tax on highway diesel is 24.4 cents a gallon: the 24.3-cent excise plus the 0.1-cent Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) tax. As of January 2026, state taxes and fees on highway diesel averaged 35.86 cents a gallon (EIA).

Combined and gap figures from our diesel taxes by state table (standard rates, as of October 16, 2026), which also counts the small federal Superfund tax. Temporary suspensions in some states this fall are flagged there.

Two practical points. First, a tax change moves your delivered price even when the fuel doesn't, so a quote that bundles tax into one number can go stale. Second, if you paid highway tax on fuel that went into off-road equipment, you may be able to claim it back: see off-road diesel tax refunds. For which fuel to buy in the first place, see dyed vs. clear diesel.

Margin and delivery: the part you negotiate

Everything above is set by the market or by law. The last layer is the supplier's: its operating costs, overhead and profit, and the cost of the delivery itself. In an index deal it's usually one agreed differential per gallon over the rack. What changes it:

• Delivery format. Wet-hosing a fleet one vehicle at a time, a tank wagon drop into a site tank, and a full transport load into a large tank are different jobs with different costs. See mobile fleet fueling, on-site delivery and bulk transport loads.
• Drop size and frequency. Larger, scheduled drops generally price better per gallon than small or one-off calls.
• Product. Biodiesel blends, R99, winter blends and additives can carry their own cost. Ask whether they're a separate line. For winter fuel, see how to prevent diesel gelling.
• Timing. After-hours and emergency deliveries can carry a charge. Oregon's agreement, for example, lets a contractor add a flat emergency charge of up to $100 per delivery, agreed in advance and shown as its own invoice line.

Rack-plus, index or fixed: how a bulk diesel quote is built

The layers are the same in every deal. What changes is which ones float and which ones are fixed.

A public example of rack-plus. Oregon's statewide bulk fuel agreement spells out the math. The contract price is the OPIS average price at the supplier's designated rack, as published around 6 a.m. Eastern on the date of delivery, plus the contractor's bid markup, times the gallons. Taxes are added on top to give the amount due, and no other costs may be added to the contract price. In the state's own example, diesel ordered June 25 and delivered June 28 is priced off the June 28 rack. Massachusetts' statewide heating oil contract works the same way, with a daily OPIS Boston price as the index, and requires taxes and federal fees to be billed as separate invoice lines.

Fixed pricing, caps and collars trade the daily movement for budget certainty, with real downsides when the market falls. That's covered in depth in fixed-price diesel contracts; broader contract terms are in fuel supply agreements.

How to check a bulk diesel quote

1. Name the index. Which publisher, which figure (average, low, or a Low 2 or Low 3 benchmark), branded or unbranded, and which rack city or terminal.
2. Name the pricing date and time. The order date or the delivery date, and which daily snapshot. OPIS publishes several, including a contract snapshot around 10 a.m. Eastern and a closing one by 4:59 p.m.
3. Say what's in the differential. Freight, delivery, additives and blends: inside the per-gallon number or billed separately?
4. Put taxes on their own lines. Federal excise and LUST, state excise and fees, and any sales tax, with clear and dyed fuel billed separately so your tax records stay clean.
5. List every fee in writing. Small-drop or delivery fees, after-hours and emergency charges, and anything else that can appear on the invoice.
6. Reconcile against the ticket. Gallons, product and site on each invoice line should match a delivery ticket. See how to read a fuel delivery ticket.
7. Compare like with like. A station pump price includes taxes and a retail margin; a bulk quote may not show either in the headline number. To compare delivered fuel with fuel cards, use the fleet fueling cost calculator.

How FuelGo prices delivered diesel

FuelGo quotes OPIS-based or indexed pricing that adjusts with the market, so when prices move you can see why. Pricing is volume-tiered: cost per gallon falls as drop size rises, and scheduled routes price better than one-off emergency calls because we can plan the truck. Smaller deliveries carry a delivery fee; larger deliveries don't carry one at all. You get a written quote before we dispatch. Biodiesel blends are quoted as a separate line so you can compare, and dyed and clear diesel go on the same account as separate line items. For a price that holds, we offer fixed-price diesel contracts priced off NYMEX NY Harbor ULSD futures.

We deliver dyed off-road diesel, clear on-road diesel, gasoline, DEF and R99 renewable diesel nationwide, from 20 to 4,400 gallons per drop and in transport loads up to 7,500 gallons, with no minimum order. Invoices are itemized and can feed ARIBA or COUPA; pay by credit card, ACH or check. Dispatch runs 24/7/365. Get a delivered quote or call 800-720-4546; a dispatcher replies within the hour.

Diesel pricing FAQ

Sources: U.S. EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update ("What we pay for in a gallon of diesel," May 2026) · EIA, factors affecting diesel prices · EIA, diesel prices and outlook (federal and state taxes) · EIA glossary: rack sales · IRS Publication 510, Excise Taxes (rack, terminal, position holder, dyed diesel) · CME Group, NY Harbor ULSD futures contract specs · CFTC glossary: basis · OPIS, gasoline and diesel fuel rack prices · OPIS, gasoline and diesel rack price reports · OPIS, how to read your wholesale rack report · OPIS, Low 2 and Low 3 benchmarks · OPIS, anatomy of a gas and diesel rack price (2019) · DTN FastRacks FAQ · FIA, better benchmarks (IOSCO principles for oil price reporting agencies) · Argus, NYH barge ULSD methodology · S&P Global Commodity Insights via Hellenic Shipping News, US Gulf Coast ULSD differential collapses (Oct. 24, 2022) · Oregon DAS, Bulk Fuel Buyer's Guide (updated May 9, 2018) · Massachusetts statewide contract ENE52 user guide (heating oil)