Louisiana’s diesel crisis has entered October with emergency relief still in place and fuel prices well above last year’s levels. Meanwhile, Alabama’s average remains above $6 a gallon as Washington escalates pressure on Europe to release emergency supplies.

Although pump prices have eased in both states, new international developments threaten to complicate the recovery. Reuters reported Thursday that the Trump administration warned France and Germany to release diesel reserves or face a potential U.S. export ban. The report cited three people familiar with the discussions.

Separately, Chinese refiners have suspended fuel exports beyond Hong Kong and Macau until further notice, Reuters reported, citing four sources. Analysts warned that the decision removes a source of supply from an already strained market.

For farmers and truckers across Louisiana and Alabama, those developments arrive during harvest season, when fuel costs directly affect the expense of bringing crops to market.

Diesel prices ease but remain far above last year

Louisiana’s average diesel price stood at $5.8977 per gallon Thursday, according to AAA’s state price tracker. That was down about 2 cents from Wednesday and roughly 14 cents below the September 21 record.

However, the price remained approximately 77% above the $3.3231 average recorded a year earlier. At those averages, buying 100 gallons costs about $257 more than it did last October.

Across the state line, Alabama’s diesel average fell to $6.0312. That was approximately 13 cents below its September 20 record, but still about 75% above the year-earlier average of $3.4555.

What Louisiana’s emergency relief covers

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced emergency action September 23 to help farmers and timber harvesters use dyed diesel they already keep on hand.

Dyed diesel carries a red marker identifying fuel intended for qualifying off-road uses, such as tractors and logging equipment. Louisiana’s action suspends state penalties for its highway use in vehicles registered as Class 2, for forest products, or Class 5, for farm use. The relief runs through October 22.

However, eligibility comes with a tax requirement.

The Louisiana Department of Revenue’s September 24 bulletin says operators qualify for the penalty waiver only if they or their fuel seller pay the state’s 20-cent-per-gallon excise tax. The bulletin also covers sellers supplying eligible vehicles amid the diesel crisis.

Landry separately directed state officials to request federal penalty relief from the IRS. The state announcement does not itself establish a federal waiver.

Alabama suspends dyed-diesel enforcement

Alabama has adopted a similar response to rising costs.

On September 24, Gov. Kay Ivey directed the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to halt dyed-diesel enforcement for 120 days to help agricultural and timber businesses. She also instructed the state’s revenue commissioner to seek IRS penalty relief.

The governor’s announcement cited sharply higher fuel prices. It did not identify stations that had exhausted their diesel supplies.

Local supply concerns and rising harvest costs

In Louisiana, local reporting has documented more limited supply concerns.

KSLA reported September 24, citing unnamed sources, that some local businesses had completely run out of diesel. However, the report did not identify those businesses or establish the duration or geographic extent of the outages.

That leaves an important distinction between reported local disruptions and evidence of widespread empty pumps. The station’s report does not establish that those businesses remain without fuel today.

The financial impact is more clearly documented.

“It’s cutting our profits in half on a lot of stuff,” Thornton Logistics owner Chris Thornton told KSLA.

Additionally, LSU AgCenter associate extension agent Joshua Salley told the station that hay producers in DeSoto Parish had increased prices to offset higher fuel expenses.

Alabama farmers are confronting similar pressure on budgets prepared months before diesel reached its recent highs.

An Alabama Cooperative Extension report put farm-use diesel at $5.42 per gallon for the week ending September 18. That was almost double the $2.73 average in January and February, when many growers were developing their production budgets.

Meanwhile, Auburn University researchers estimated that higher diesel prices would add approximately $247 million to harvest costs for corn, cotton, peanuts and soybeans across 13 Southern states. The estimate excluded fuel used to transport harvested crops to their first buyers, leaving additional expenses outside the calculation.

Trump weighs an export ban amid diesel crisis

Washington’s response now carries potential consequences beyond U.S. borders.

According to Reuters’ October 1 report, one source said the administration wants the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel over six months. The European Commission said its energy taskforce would discuss the situation Friday morning.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he discusses a possible diesel export ban daily. He acknowledged that restricting exports could negatively affect gasoline prices, while suggesting it could lower diesel costs.

Reuters reported that the administration has also considered voluntary export limits and broader sales of tax-exempt diesel. Those options remained under consideration in that report.

Landry has pushed for a 90-day export pause to increase domestic availability during harvest. However, Louisiana’s oil and gas industry has challenged that approach.

Tommy Faucheux, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, warned that transportation constraints could prevent exported fuel from reaching additional U.S. buyers. If refiners run out of storage, he argued, they could reduce production and cut gasoline output as well.

Global supply shifts complicate the diesel crisis

The international picture also includes signs of recovery alongside new restrictions.

USA Herald previously reported on the Saudi pipeline shutdown and its potential to deepen the fuel crisis. Reuters reported Thursday that Saudi Arabia had resumed tanker loadings at Yanbu after restarting the East-West Pipeline. Nevertheless, attacks linked to the Middle East and Ukraine wars have reduced refining capacity and tightened global fuel supplies.

Russia, meanwhile, extended its diesel export restrictions through the end of October, with exceptions for supplies covered by certain intergovernmental agreements.

For Louisiana’s eligible farm and forestry operators, the immediate relief deadline remains October 22. Their state excise tax obligation also remains in place, while broader decisions over exports and emergency reserves could influence fuel costs through the rest of harvest.