NY Harbor ULSD Spot Price (2006–2026)
The New York Harbor Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Spot Price is the daily FOB wholesale price of 0–15 ppm diesel at the US Northeast hub, published by the EIA since 2006. It is the market-cleared benchmark that leads the weekly retail ULSD print and, since 2013, the basis for the NYMEX ULSD (formerly heating oil) futures contract. Range: $0.602 (April 2020) to $5.339 (May 2022); $3.32 in mid-2026.
Dataset: NY Harbor ULSD Spot Price (2006–2026) · Updated 2026-07-27
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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · series EER_EPD2DXL0_PF4_Y35NY_DPG
Macro Takeaway
This spot price is the wholesale leading indicator for on-highway diesel: it clears daily at the terminal, ahead of the EIA weekly retail survey, so it signals the direction of pump diesel days before the retail print confirms it.
As the NYMEX ULSD futures underlier, it is the reference distillate price for hedging across freight, aviation, and heating — a genuine market benchmark rather than a survey average, with the volatility and liquidity that implies.
The 2020 low of $0.602 is a rare data point: the pandemic distillate collapse pushed wholesale diesel below prices not seen since the early 2000s, a mirror of the negative-WTI dislocation in the same weeks.
Dataset Overview
| Indicator | NY Harbor ULSD Spot Price (2006–2026) |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| Frequency | Daily |
| Period | 2006 – present |
| Variables | date, ulsd_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 |
ulsd_spot | Float | New York Harbor ultra-low-sulfur No. 2 diesel spot price FOB, dollars per gallon |
A value of 3.316 means ULSD cleared at $3.32 per gallon FOB New York Harbor that day.
Download the Complete Dataset
The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats.
EIA Direct API Access
The underlying data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration API v2 (route petroleum/pri/spt, series EER_EPD2DXL0_PF4_Y35NY_DPG). An EIA API key is free from the EIA developer portal.
Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset
https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/ulsd-spot-ny.csv
This URL returns the complete, cleaned dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool — no key required.
Using the Dataset in Python
import pandas as pd
url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/ulsd-spot-ny.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])
print(f"Latest: {df['ulsd_spot'].iloc[-1]:.3f} USD/gallon")
print(df.tail())
Using the Dataset in R
library(readr) url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/ulsd-spot-ny.csv" df <- read_csv(url) tail(df) summary(df$ulsd_spot)
Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.
Methodology
Daily spot assessments at New York Harbor compiled by the EIA from market sources. FOB terminal price, excluding delivery and tax.
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; the futures-grade wholesale benchmark since 2006.
- Leads retail. Moves ahead of the weekly retail ULSD survey.
- Futures underlier. Basis for the NYMEX ULSD contract since 2013.
- Wholesale, not retail. FOB terminal; retail adds markup and tax.
- Known gaps. Non-trading days only; continuous since June 2006.
Common Pitfalls When Using This Series
- Confusing it with the retail diesel price. This is wholesale FOB; the pump price is higher by markup and tax.
- Over-reading daily volatility. As a spot/futures benchmark it is more volatile than the retail survey; use the trend.
- Ignoring the retail lead relationship. Spot direction precedes the weekly retail print — that lead is the analytical value.
- Assuming pre-2006 history. The ULSD grade postdates the sulfur rule; no earlier spot series exists.
Historical Regimes
2006–2008 — Launch into the peak. The series began just before the 2008 oil top near $4.
2009–2014 — High plateau. Range-bound in the $2.50–$3.50 distillate band.
2015–2020 — Glut then collapse. Falling to the $2 range, then the April 2020 low of $0.602 in the pandemic demand crash.
2021–2026 — Distillate crunch. Tight inventories drove the $5.339 peak (May 2022), normalizing to $3.32 by mid-2026.
Related Macroeconomic Datasets
- US ULSD Retail Price — the weekly retail print this spot price leads
- NY Harbor Heating Oil Spot Price — the sister distillate on the same hub
- US Gulf Coast Jet Fuel Spot Price — the third middle-distillate competing for output
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_EPD2DXL0_PF4_Y35NY_DPG)
Dataset Reference
Last updated — 4 August 2026
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