3-2-1 Crack Spread (Refining Margin)
A refiner buys crude and sells products, and the crack spread is the gap. The 3-2-1 version assumes three barrels of crude yield two barrels of gasoline and one of distillate: (2 × gasoline + 1 × diesel − 3 × WTI) ÷ 3, in dollars per barrel of crude. Product prices are New York Harbor spot quotes converted from dollars per gallon (× 42); the crude leg is WTI at Cushing. thetrading.tools computes the spread from three EIA daily spot prices (WTI, NY Harbor gasoline and NY Harbor ULSD), retrieved through FRED, so the series starts when ULSD quotes begin in June 2006. It is a gross benchmark before operating costs, RINs, transport and each refinery's actual yield — the industry quotes it because it moves like refining profits do.
3-2-1 crack spread ($/barrel)
- Gasoline crack $/bbl
- $46.39
- Diesel crack $/bbl
- $101.71
Next release: Oct 15, 2026
Latest reading
Refining margins are elevated: as of October 6, 2026 the 3-2-1 crack spread is $64.83 per barrel — 21% below the September 25, 2026 record of $81.86. The prior reading was $61.57. The median since 2006 is $19.30 a barrel; the 2022 peak of $75.89 (May 13, 2022) has since been passed, and the record is $81.86 on September 25, 2026. Above roughly $30 refiners earn well; below $10 the weakest plants lose money. Read the level for the state of the margin and the two legs for its composition — a diesel-led spike is a supply story (distillate inventories, export pulls, refinery outages) while a gasoline-led one is usually seasonal demand. The 200-day average marks trend. This is a spot benchmark: refiners' reported margins lag it by a quarter and are diluted by their own crude slates and yields. Series history runs from 2006 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessComputed by thetrading.tools from EIA daily spot prices (retrieved via FRED): DGASNYH (NY Harbor conventional gasoline), DDFUELNYH (NY Harbor ULSD), DCOILWTICO (WTI); dollars per barrel · Daily, with every releaseData as of 2026-10-06 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
3-2-1 ($/barrel)
Gasoline crack
The gasoline leg alone: New York Harbor conventional gasoline (× 42) minus WTI, in dollars per barrel. Seasonal — it ramps into summer specifications and fades in the fall.
Diesel crack
The distillate leg alone: New York Harbor ULSD (× 42) minus WTI, in dollars per barrel. When it runs far above the gasoline crack — 2022 and again in 2026 — the 3-2-1 average understates what a distillate-heavy refiner earns.
How unusual is today's diesel margin?
What counts as a normal diesel crack has moved from a few dollars a barrel in the 1990s to $20–30 in the 2010s, so a dollar level alone says little. This measure divides each month's average diesel crack by its median over the prior three years. Twice that median is the line our research uses for a spike.
October 2026 (4 sessions through October 6) averages $99.5 a barrel against a three-year median of $34.7: 2.87×, a spike, at twice its norm or more. The spike line sits at about $69 a barrel for the monthly average. The last complete month, September 2026, read 3.19×.
Methodology & data
Crack Spread is computed by thetrading.tools from EIA data (Computed by thetrading.tools from EIA daily spot prices (retrieved via FRED): DGASNYH (NY Harbor conventional gasoline), DDFUELNYH (NY Harbor ULSD), DCOILWTICO (WTI); dollars per barrel). We pull the complete history, chart it on a daily basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Readings are dated by the period they cover. Latest observation 2026-10-06; site refreshed 2026-10-08. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 3-2-1 Crack Spread (Refining Margin)?
A refiner buys crude and sells products, and the crack spread is the gap. The 3-2-1 version assumes three barrels of crude yield two barrels of gasoline and one of distillate: (2 × gasoline + 1 × diesel − 3 × WTI) ÷ 3, in dollars per barrel of crude. Product prices are New York Harbor spot quotes converted from dollars per gallon (× 42); the crude leg is WTI at Cushing. thetrading.tools computes the spread from three EIA daily spot prices (WTI, NY Harbor gasoline and NY Harbor ULSD), retrieved through FRED, so the series starts when ULSD quotes begin in June 2006. It is a gross benchmark before operating costs, RINs, transport and each refinery's actual yield — the industry quotes it because it moves like refining profits do.
How do you read Crack Spread?
The median since 2006 is $19.30 a barrel; the 2022 peak of $75.89 (May 13, 2022) has since been passed, and the record is $81.86 on September 25, 2026. Above roughly $30 refiners earn well; below $10 the weakest plants lose money. Read the level for the state of the margin and the two legs for its composition — a diesel-led spike is a supply story (distillate inventories, export pulls, refinery outages) while a gasoline-led one is usually seasonal demand. The 200-day average marks trend. This is a spot benchmark: refiners' reported margins lag it by a quarter and are diluted by their own crude slates and yields.
Where does the Crack Spread data come from?
Computed by thetrading.tools from EIA daily spot prices (retrieved via FRED): DGASNYH (NY Harbor conventional gasoline), DDFUELNYH (NY Harbor ULSD), DCOILWTICO (WTI); dollars per barrel. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/crack-spread.csv.
How often is Crack Spread updated?
Crack Spread is a daily series from EIA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
3-2-1 crack spread ($/barrel)
- Gasoline crack $/bbl
- $46.39
- Diesel crack $/bbl
- $101.71
Next release: Oct 15, 2026