US Gulf Coast Jet Fuel Spot Price (1990–2026)
The US Gulf Coast Jet Fuel Spot Price is the daily FOB wholesale price of kerosene-type jet fuel at the US refining heartland, published by the EIA since 1990. Jet fuel is typically an airline’s single largest or second-largest operating cost, so this price is a direct input to aviation profitability and fare pressure. Range: $0.282 (1998) to $5.066 (April 2022); $2.91 in mid-2026, the lowest of the major refined products per gallon.
Dataset: US Gulf Coast Jet Fuel Spot Price (1990–2026) · Updated 2026-07-27
Loading data…
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · series EER_EPJK_PF4_RGC_DPG
Macro Takeaway
Jet fuel is a middle distillate, kerosene-based, sharing refinery output with diesel and heating oil — so it moves with the distillate complex, not with gasoline. When distillate markets tighten, all three rise together against crude.
For airlines, fuel is 20–40% of operating cost depending on the carrier and fuel environment; this spot price is the pre-hedge benchmark against which carriers manage that exposure. Compare with the jet crack, the forgotten refining margin. Sustained jet-fuel spikes compress airline margins and push fares with a lag.
The Gulf Coast pricing point reflects the concentration of US refining on the Texas-Louisiana coast; it is the most liquid US jet-fuel benchmark and the reference for the crack spread airlines and refiners watch.
Dataset Overview
| Indicator | US Gulf Coast Jet Fuel Spot Price (1990–2026) |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| Frequency | Daily |
| Period | 1990 – present |
| Variables | date, jet_fuel_spot |
| Format | CSV, Excel (XLSX) |
| Sources | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) |
| Last updated | — |
Dataset Variables
The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
date | Date (YYYY-MM-DD) | Reference date of the observation |
jet_fuel_spot | Float | US Gulf Coast kerosene-type jet fuel spot price FOB, dollars per gallon |
A value of 2.908 means jet fuel cleared at $2.91 per gallon FOB US Gulf Coast that day.
Download the Complete Dataset
The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats.
EIA Direct API Access
The underlying data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration API v2 (route petroleum/pri/spt, series EER_EPJK_PF4_RGC_DPG). An EIA API key is free from the EIA developer portal.
Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset
https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/jet-fuel-spot-gulf.csv
This URL returns the complete, cleaned dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool — no key required.
Using the Dataset in Python
import pandas as pd
url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/jet-fuel-spot-gulf.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])
print(f"Latest: {df['jet_fuel_spot'].iloc[-1]:.3f} USD/gallon")
print(df.tail())
Using the Dataset in R
library(readr) url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/jet-fuel-spot-gulf.csv" df <- read_csv(url) tail(df) summary(df$jet_fuel_spot)
Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.
Methodology
Daily spot assessments at the US Gulf Coast compiled by the EIA from market sources. FOB refinery-region price, excluding delivery.
This dataset is refreshed daily (Mon–Sat) via automated pull from the EIA API v2; new observations appear with each source release.
Data Quality & Provider Notes
- Frequency. Daily since 1990; the main US jet-fuel benchmark.
- Distillate complex. Moves with diesel and heating oil, not gasoline.
- Airline cost input. The pre-hedge benchmark for the largest airline variable cost.
- Wholesale. FOB Gulf Coast; excludes into-plane fees and delivery.
- Known gaps. Non-trading days only; continuous since April 1990.
Common Pitfalls When Using This Series
- Grouping jet fuel with gasoline. It is a distillate; its cycle follows diesel and heating oil.
- Reading spot as delivered airline cost. Carriers pay into-plane fees and hedge; spot is the market reference, not the booked cost.
- Over-reading single days. Daily spot is volatile; the trend drives airline economics.
- Ignoring the crack spread. Refining margin over crude, not crude alone, determines jet-fuel direction.
Historical Regimes
1990–1999 — Cheap kerosene. Prices near $0.40–$0.60, bottoming at $0.282 in December 1998.
2000–2008 — Supercycle climb. Rising to nearly $4 by mid-2008 on global demand.
2009–2019 — High then glut. A $2.50–$3.50 plateau, easing into the shale glut.
2020 — Aviation collapse. The pandemic grounded fleets and jet demand cratered, pulling spot toward $0.50.
2021–2026 — Recovery and crunch. Reopening plus distillate tightness drove the $5.066 peak (April 2022), normalizing to $2.91 by mid-2026.
Related Macroeconomic Datasets
- NY Harbor Heating Oil Spot Price — a sister middle distillate
- NY Harbor ULSD Spot Price — the diesel distillate competing for output
- WTI Crude Oil Price — the crude benchmark and crack-spread base
Macroeconomic Dataset Hub
This dataset is part of the Eco3min macro-financial data repository.
Explore the Eco3min Commodity Data Hub
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Petroleum & Other Liquids Spot Prices (series EER_EPJK_PF4_RGC_DPG)
Dataset Reference
Last updated — 4 August 2026
Disclaimer – Financial Information: The analyses, commentary, and content published on eco3min.fr are provided for informational and educational purposes only. They do not constitute investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell financial instruments. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investment decisions involve risk and are the sole responsibility of the reader.