Image Credit: Xinhua News Agency / Contributor / Getty Images 
Diesel has now hit $8 a gallon in San Francisco—the highest recorded price in a US city, ever.
Across California, the average price of diesel was $7.67 a gallon on Sunday, also the highest average ever recorded.
On 2 March, in the opening days of the US-Iran war, diesel was $3.90 a gallon in California.
As The New York Post notes, “The spike comes as the rest of the U.S. sees diesel prices begin to stabilize after soaring in the wake of military action against Iran and the closure of the Straits of Hormuz.”
Nationwide diesel prices rose just 2.6% in the last week of March, with three regions of the US seeing a fall in prices.
In California, by contrast, prices rose by 34.9 cents.
The massive increase is explained, in large part, by the fact California has no direct oil pipelines from outside the state, meaning almost all supplies must be imported, whether by ship, rail or road.
There are also a limited number of refineries, and strict environmental regulations have made the market more vulnerable to shocks and disruptions.
Soaring prices will be passed on to consumers.
The California Trucking Association said increasing diesel prices “will be passed down to consumers in the price of everyday goods like construction materials, groceries, health care supplies and retail products.”
The Independent Grocers Alliance said shoppers could see higher grocery prices this summer.
“While fuel is not the largest single cost in food, it is the most pervasive,” the group said.
Californians already face some of the highest costs of living in the US.
