Diesel drivers in Montréal faced an unusually painful number at the pump Sunday, October 25, with average prices hovering around $2.92 a litre while regular gasoline remained in the high-$1.80 range. The result was a gap of roughly a dollar per litre between two fuels that normally move much more closely together.
The difference is especially significant because diesel powers much of the commercial economy, from transport trucks and delivery vehicles to construction and agricultural equipment. A few cents per litre can already matter to a large fleet. A difference approaching — and in refreshed Sunday data slightly exceeding — $1 per litre represents a much larger cost shock. The Montréal numbers are also part of a broader diesel squeeze that has been building for months rather than a temporary weekend pricing anomaly.
The Sunday Price Board Tells the Story
Québec fuel-price data compiled from stations in and around Montréal placed average diesel at approximately 292.2 cents per litre on Sunday. Regular gasoline was around 188 to 190 cents depending on the time and geographic boundaries of the data snapshot. That puts the real spread at roughly $1.03 to $1.04 per litre, making the description of diesel as “nearly $1 more” somewhat conservative as prices were updated through Sunday.
The difference becomes more striking when translated into a fill-up. At 292.2 cents per litre, 60 litres of diesel costs about $175. At 189.3 cents per litre, the same volume of regular costs roughly $114 — a difference of nearly $62. A commercial vehicle taking 100 litres would face a gap of approximately $103. Large trucks with tanks holding several hundred litres can therefore see hundreds of dollars of additional fuel cost compared with an equivalent volume priced at the regular-gasoline rate.
This Is Not One Expensive Station
The $2.92 figure is not being created by one or two unusually expensive fuel stations. Data derived from the Régie de l’énergie’s public reporting showed a Montréal diesel median close to 289.9 cents per litre Sunday. Some stations were posting prices near or above $3, with the upper end of the reported market reaching roughly 304.9 cents per litre.
There are exceptions, and individual pump prices can vary sharply because stations update at different times and retailers have different supply arrangements. One unusually low diesel listing can pull attention away from what most drivers are actually encountering. The median is useful for that reason: at approximately $2.90, it shows that very high diesel pricing is widespread across the Montréal market rather than limited to a small group of retailers. Regular gasoline, by comparison, had a local median around $1.89 to $1.91 depending on the geographic dataset used, leaving a remarkable separation between the two products.
Diesel Has Stayed High While Regular Gas Fell Back
The current gap has developed because diesel and gasoline have taken very different paths. Montréal regular gasoline climbed above $2 a litre earlier in October, reaching roughly 206.5 to 206.7 cents per litre on October 3 in Régie-based daily data. By October 22, however, it had fallen to approximately 184 cents before moving back toward the high-$1.80 range over the weekend.
Diesel did not follow that decline. Montréal diesel had already reached about 298.7 cents per litre on September 18 and remained around $2.90 or more through much of October. On October 24, the daily average was still approximately 292 cents. Going back to late August, Montréal diesel had been as low as about 257 cents per litre, meaning the market added more than 30 cents in roughly two months. The persistence matters: diesel users are dealing with an elevated cost base, not simply a single dramatic Sunday increase.
The Global Fuel Shortage Is Hitting Diesel Especially Hard
The wider explanation starts far beyond Montréal. The International Energy Agency said in its October Oil Market Report that global diesel markets remained under significant strain after prolonged supply disruptions triggered unusually large inventory withdrawals. Global diesel and gasoil exports during September were about 700,000 barrels per day lower than a year earlier.
The biggest losses came from Russia and the Middle East. According to the IEA, combined net exports from those areas fell by approximately 1.3 million barrels per day year over year in September. Continued disruption cut global diesel and gasoil availability by an estimated 1.5 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026 and 1.7 million barrels per day in the third quarter compared with the previous year. Gasoline has also faced high crude and refining costs, but the shortage in middle distillates — the category that includes diesel — has been particularly severe, creating the unusually large premium motorists are now seeing.
Refining Margins Have Become a Major Part of the Problem
Expensive crude oil alone does not explain why diesel costs dramatically more than gasoline. The price of a finished fuel also reflects the value of turning crude into that particular product. When inventories are tight and refiners cannot produce enough diesel to satisfy demand, the refining margin — commonly called the crack spread — can surge even if crude prices themselves are not rising at the same speed.
Kalibrate’s September Canadian fuel-price analysis illustrates how extreme that became. It estimated that Canada’s diesel refining margin reached an all-time high on September 21 and accounted for 142.2 cents per litre of the pump price. By the end of September, the refining margin was 72.8 cents per litre higher than a year earlier, while Canadian retail diesel was 107.6 cents per litre higher year over year. This helps explain why a decline in crude oil would not automatically bring Montréal diesel back into line with regular gasoline.
Montréal Is Connected to a Much Larger Fuel Market
Having refineries in Québec does not isolate Montréal drivers from international or North American pricing. The Régie de l’énergie explains that wholesale fuel prices incorporate crude costs, refining margins and transportation to loading terminals. The Montréal loading-rack market also follows broader North American refined-product pricing, with New York-area spot prices serving as an important reference.
That distinction is important whenever fuel prices surge. A barrel of crude does not become gasoline and diesel in fixed proportions that can be adjusted instantly. Refiners operate within technical limits, while buyers across multiple countries compete for the finished products available. Québec’s own market is also connected to imports and exports, meaning local supply responds to conditions outside the province. The result is that Montréal diesel prices can remain exceptionally high even when there is no obvious shortage of crude oil in Canada itself. What matters is whether enough usable diesel is reaching the market at the time businesses and motorists need it.
Trucking Companies Feel the Increase Quickly
Diesel prices matter well beyond households that own diesel-powered vehicles. Statistics Canada describes trucking as critical to moving consumer and industrial goods through the Canadian supply chain. As of June 2026, the country had more than 155,000 business locations operating in the truck-transportation subsector, covering everything from urban deliveries to long-distance freight.
The sector was already absorbing sharply higher costs before Montréal diesel reached its current level. Statistics Canada reported that truck-transportation prices in the second quarter of 2026 were 9.5% higher than a year earlier and 5.3% above the previous quarter. In a third-quarter business survey, 68.1% of transportation and warehousing companies that identified input-cost pressures cited energy as an obstacle. For a fleet regularly consuming thousands of litres, even a 10-cent increase becomes substantial. A prolonged diesel premium measured in tens of cents — or close to a dollar relative to gasoline — creates pressure for fuel surcharges, higher freight rates or thinner operating margins.
Higher Diesel Costs Can Travel Through the Supply Chain
A motorist buying regular gasoline sees the fuel bill directly, but diesel expenses often appear indirectly in the prices of other goods and services. Produce must travel from farms and distribution centres. Construction firms operate trucks and heavy machinery. Couriers move packages between warehouses and homes. Restaurants, retailers and manufacturers depend on commercial transportation long before customers see the final product.
Statistics Canada has specifically highlighted transportation as one pathway through which higher energy costs can spread through the economy. Earlier in 2026, it found substantial increases in producer diesel prices and rising prices for transportation services as Middle East disruptions pushed energy costs upward. That does not mean every increase in groceries or consumer goods can be attributed to diesel; labour, rent, exchange rates, commodities and retailer margins all matter as well. But at nearly $3 a litre, diesel becomes too large a business expense to ignore, particularly for companies operating fuel-intensive routes every day.
Taxes Do Not Explain a Dollar-Per-Litre Difference
Taxes are an important part of Québec pump prices, but the tax structure does not come close to explaining why diesel is roughly a dollar more expensive than regular gasoline. Revenu Québec lists its normal provincial fuel tax at 19.2 cents per litre for gasoline and 20.2 cents for non-coloured fuel oil, which includes road diesel. The difference between those basic provincial rates is therefore only one cent per litre.
Québec also applies GST and QST to fuel purchases, with the two sales taxes combining to 14.975%. Because those taxes are percentages, a more expensive litre of diesel generates a larger sales-tax amount than a cheaper litre of gasoline. Even so, the underlying price difference has to exist first. Montréal-area gasoline can also be subject to an additional transit-related fuel-tax component. Taken together, the tax system affects the final number displayed at the pump, but the extraordinary diesel premium in October is principally a wholesale supply and refining-market story rather than the result of dramatically different diesel taxation.
Federal Fuel-Tax Relief Is Already Softening the Price
Ottawa has already taken an unusual step to cushion fuel costs. The federal government suspended its excise tax on gasoline and diesel beginning April 20, 2026 and subsequently extended the full suspension until January 31, 2027. Under normal rates, the federal excise tax is 10 cents per litre on gasoline and four cents on diesel.
That means Sunday’s Montréal prices are occurring despite the federal tax being temporarily removed. In other words, diesel around $2.92 a litre would be even higher if the regular four-cent federal diesel levy were currently being collected and fully passed through at the pump. The federal government estimates the extended fuel-tax measure will provide billions of dollars in relief during 2026-27. Beginning February 1, 2027, the plan calls for half of the normal excise rate to return through March, followed by restoration of the normal rates in April. Market prices, however, could move considerably before those dates.
A Fast Return to Normal Diesel Prices Is Not Guaranteed
There are reasons diesel prices could improve. The IEA expects global refinery runs to recover from an October seasonal low toward the end of 2026, and additional production would help rebuild supplies. More stable Middle East exports, improved Russian refinery availability, softer demand or lower freight costs could also reduce pressure on wholesale diesel markets.
The caution is that damaged inventories cannot be replenished overnight. The IEA expects the global gasoil and diesel balance to return to a surplus in the first quarter of 2027, but it says the accumulated 2026 inventory deficit is large enough that market tightness could persist well into next year. It does not expect meaningful replenishment of depleted stocks, beyond normal seasonal changes, before the second half of 2027. For Montréal motorists and commercial fleets, that means $2.92 should not automatically be treated as the permanent new normal — but neither is there strong evidence that the diesel premium will disappear quickly.
