We’ve already shared a pair of blog posts featuring perspectives from experts, analysts, reporters and even some current/former administration officials on why an export ban on U.S. crude oil or American-made diesel, gasoline and refined products would be a costly mistake.
Now, we’re sharing even more perspectives, and the fact there are so many tells you all you need to know about why an export ban would backfire:
“A diesel self-embargo is a bad idea for many of the same reason Republicans criticized Joe Biden’s ‘pause’ on new liquefied natural gas exports. The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of diesel, selling about 1.5 million barrels abroad a day, mostly from the Gulf Coast. Proponents of a ban say this would increase U.S. supply and thus push down prices. But there’s not enough pipeline capacity to move the diesel in the Gulf Coast that is normally exported to the Northeast and California, or for that matter to significantly boost flows to the Midwest. A ban on exports would increase global diesel prices, which would smack Americans living in coastal areas that rely on imports.”
— The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, Republicans Are Running on Empty, 9/22/26
“A ban on diesel exports by the U.S. would exacerbate the existing severe strains in the global diesel market and drive prices outside of the U.S. even higher in the short term. Nonetheless, given that a surplus of diesel in the U.S. could paradoxically force American refiners to cut supplies of oil products – potentially within a few weeks – a ban would ultimately be self-defeating.”
— David Oxley, quoted in POLITICO, 9/23/26
“The price of gasoline could soar. Do not ban diesel exports. You will have a whole rash of unintended consequences.”
— Andy Lipow, quoted in CNN, 9/22/26
“If you ban diesel exports, this is what happens: 1) Without the overseas market, diesel inventories start to accumulate domestically. This temporarily puts downward pressure on wholesale prices in the US, likely more so in the Gulf Coast than anywhere else. HOWEVER 2) With U.S. export volumes exiting the global market, the global diesel/distillate balance tightens. This immediately causes those prices to rise, and will boomerang back on portions of the country that rely on imports, namely the East Coast and to a lesser extent the West Coast.”
— Garrett Golding, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 9/21/26
“[A diesel export ban would] discourage investment in U.S. upstream and downstream/refining just when the world will need it the most since demand isn’t going to peak soon and the Middle East has a new and big security challenge.”
— Bob McNally, Rapidan Energy, 9/21/26
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