US refineries operated at 97.2% of operable capacity during the week ending August 14, according to the Energy Information Administration Weekly Petroleum Status Report released August 19. The reading sits near the practical ceiling for the national refining fleet, leaving almost no slack to absorb an unplanned outage.

Crude oil refinery inputs averaged 17.4 million barrels per day that week, an increase of 215,000 barrels per day over the prior week's average. Gasoline production rose to an average of 9.7 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production, the category that supplies on-highway diesel, declined over the same period even as refiners pushed total throughput higher.

Utilization has been elevated for months. EIA data placed the national rate at 96.2% for the week ending July 17, compared with 94.7% during the equivalent 2025 week. Regional readings have been higher still, with the Midwest and Rocky Mountain districts reported at 100% utilization in mid July.

For historical context, annual US refinery utilization averaged 90.6% in 2024, when total operable capacity stood at roughly 18.4 million barrels per day across 131 active refineries as of January 1, 2025. Sustained operation in the high nineties means maintenance turnarounds, weather events, and equipment failures translate quickly into lost distillate volume, which shows up at the pump as the diesel price increases recorded through August.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/