US diesel and heating oil inventory ·EIA week ending August 28, 2026
US diesel and heating oil storage holds 104.2 M bbl as of August 28, 2026, up 0.8% week over week.
The Desk's read
The diesel and heating fuel pile is thinner than most of its history, sitting at the 11th percentile of the 44-year record at 104.2 MM bbl as of 2026-08-28. The recent draw of 5.8% over 30 days looks brisk, but the pace ranks at the 57 percentile of comparable stretches, middling by the record's standard. We watch next Wednesday's EIA weekly report for whether that ordinary pace holds against a low pile.
On the August 28, 2026 figures.
Is US diesel at an all-time low?
Only on some yardsticks. At a record: East Coast stocks (low). Near a record: Pump price (high). Not at a record: US stocks, Days of supply.
Record low 87.2 M bbl (April 1996)
Record low 19.3 M bbl (August 2026)
Record low 21.8 days (February 2003)
Record high $5.81/gal (June 2022)
US diesel and heating oil (distillate) inventory
September 10, 2021 to August 28, 2026
Weekly US distillate fuel oil stocks (road diesel plus the heating-oil grades), in millions of barrels. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
What is in the pile: the sulfur grades
Week ending August 28, 2026
EIA began reporting this grade on April 9, 2004, at 6% of the pile. It is 90% today. The April 19, 1996 record low predates the grade entirely: that pile held none of it.
Road diesel (ULSD) share of US distillate stocks
April 9, 2004 to August 28, 2026
Weekly US distillate stocks by sulfur content, in millions of barrels; the three grades sum to the total. ULSD, 15 ppm or less, is the fuel every US pump has sold since the 2006 to 2010 highway rule. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
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About this series
Distillate fuel oil held in US tanks and terminals: road diesel (ULSD, 15 ppm sulfur or less) plus the heating-oil grades, reported weekly by the U.S. EIA. About nine-tenths of the pile is diesel. A gauge of freight, farm, rail and winter heating supply.
Since 2015, today's reading ranks in the 2nd percentile. US distillate stocks are lean by modern standards. It is 16.3M bbl below its same-week five-year average. Across the full EIA record back to 1982 it ranks in the 11th percentile; storage capacity, pipelines, and production have shifted enough since then that the modern cohort is the better yardstick for today's operating conditions. It is the lowest reading for this week of the year in the 44-year record.
Weekly US distillate fuel oil stocks (road diesel plus the heating-oil grades), in millions of barrels. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Weekly Petroleum Status Report. Updated weekly. View this series at eia.gov ↗
US diesel inventory: common questions
- Is US diesel at an all-time low?
- Not on every yardstick, and the yardsticks disagree. EIA publishes four numbers that can each be called low: total distillate stocks, regional stocks (the East Coast is the district most shortage headlines mean), days of supply, and the retail price. This page ranks each against its full record every week; the table above shows which, if any, sits at a record today.
- What is distillate fuel oil?
- Distillate is a refined product category that covers diesel fuel and heating oil. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports total US distillate stocks weekly in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report, split by sulfur content.
More questions
- Is distillate the same as diesel?
- Diesel is about nine-tenths of the distillate category in 2026; the remainder is heating oil and other gas oils. EIA reports the sulfur grades separately and this page shows the split. The headline figure is the combined EIA distillate total.
- What is ULSD?
- Ultra-low sulfur diesel: distillate refined to 15 parts per million of sulfur or less. EPA required it for highway diesel from 2006 to 2010 and for off-road, rail and marine diesel by 2014, because sulfur poisons the catalysts in modern exhaust aftertreatment and forms sulfur dioxide and fine particulate when burned. Renewable diesel, biodiesel blends and winter No. 1 diesel all meet the same ceiling.
- What share of US distillate is road diesel?
- About nine-tenths in 2026. The over-500 ppm heating-oil grade was the majority in the early 1990s and has shrunk to a few percent as Northeast states moved heating oil to the 15 ppm spec. The composition card above shows the share by week, and notes that the 1996 record low predates the ULSD grade entirely.
- Why do distillate inventories matter?
- Distillate powers freight trucks, trains, farm and industrial equipment, and heats homes in the Northeast. Stocks tend to build in the shoulder seasons and draw during winter heating and peak freight, so the weekly change is read against that pattern.
- How often are distillate inventories updated?
- The EIA publishes the figure every week, typically Wednesday around 10:30 a.m. Eastern for the prior Friday's week. This page reads that same EIA series and shows the latest reading with its as-of date.