US operable atmospheric distillation capacity totaled 18.2 million barrels per calendar day as of January 1, 2026, a decline of more than 250,000 barrels per calendar day, or roughly 1 percent, compared with January 1, 2025. The US Energy Information Administration published the figures in its annual Refinery Capacity Report, released June 26, 2026.

Capacity contraction constrains the volume of crude oil that domestic refineries can process into diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. When operable capacity falls while demand holds steady, utilization rates must rise to maintain output, which reduces the operational margin available to absorb unplanned outages, maintenance overruns or weather disruption.

The agency tracks utilization on both weekly and monthly cycles through its percent utilization of refinery operable capacity series. Those series, combined with weekly inputs data, establish how much slack the system carries at any given point in the year. Summer months typically run at higher utilization as refiners meet peak driving season demand, which compresses that slack further.

Fuel supply conditions connect directly to carrier operating costs. The national on-highway diesel average stood at $4.796 per gallon for the week of July 13, up 21.8 cents from $4.578 the previous week. Regional refining concentration means that an outage at a single large Gulf Coast facility can move prices across multiple states within days.

The refinery count and capacity series extends back decades and is published annually alongside the operable capacity data.

Source: US Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67807