Diesel Drama, Octopus Day & a Fat Bear Champion 🛢️🐙🐻

Pamela Kirkland (0:06)

Sweet spaghetti sauce. Ryan, is that you?

Ryan Willard (0:09)

It is I, said the wry. I have returned with good news and bad news.

Pamela Kirkland (0:15)

Okay. What's the bad news?

Ryan Willard (0:17)

I did not locate the Master Sword, and I haven't yet gotten a sneak preview of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time remake.

Pamela Kirkland (0:25)

I know how excited you are. So, okay, what's the good news?

Ryan Willard (0:29)

I have returned. And I'm ready to start the show, because I'm Ryan Willard.

Pamela Kirkland (0:36)

And I'm Pamela Kirkland. It's Thursday, October 8th. We are The Ten News.

Ryan Willard (0:41)

And this is 10 Things You Need to Know.

Pamela Kirkland (0:50)

There is one word that keeps popping up in a lot of headlines lately. Diesel.

Ryan Willard (0:56)

No, I'm not talking about Vin Diesel, the voice of Groot.

SPEAKER_3 (0:59)

I am Groot.

Ryan Willard (1:00)

It seems like everyone's talking about diesel fuel.

Pamela Kirkland (1:05)

Yes, diesel is also one of those things that works behind the scenes in everyday lives and impacts us in ways we might not even realize. It powers trucks that deliver food and packages. Farmers use it in tractors and other equipment. Ships, buses, and construction equipment use it too. Right now, diesel has gotten really expensive. Today, we are going to kick off with three things you need to know about diesel.

First up, US diesel prices recently reached record levels as the amount of fuel available around the world got squeezed. Russian refineries and fuel exports have been disrupted. Fighting in the Middle East has affected oil and refinery supplies as conflicts have impacted the amount of diesel moving around the world.

Ryan Willard (1:52)

There's less diesel available while trucks, ships, and farms still need plenty of it. When lots of people need something and there isn't as much of it available, prices go up, up, up.

Pamela Kirkland (2:04)

Exactly, which leads us to think to what countries around the world are doing to try to lower the cost of diesel.

Many governments keep huge reserves of oil and fuel that they can tap into if there's a war, natural disaster, or some other event that seriously disrupts supplies. And now, the G7, a group that includes the United States, Canada, Japan, and several European countries, has agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil and refined fuels from emergency reserves.

Ryan Willard (2:37)

100 million barrels?

Pamela Kirkland (2:40)

It sounds enormous, and it is. To put it in perspective, the United States alone uses close to 4 million barrels of diesel-type fuel every day. So 100 million barrels would equal roughly 25 days of US diesel use. But this emergency release is actually a mix of diesel, crude oil, and other fuels. And it's being spread out over several months. Governments are trying a few other things too. Cutting fuel taxes in some places, helping farmers and trucking companies with costs, and making sure countries don't stop fuel from being exported to one another. Refineries are also being pushed to produce as much diesel as they can.

Ryan Willard (3:25)

Okay, Pam, for the third thing you need to know about diesel, why does any of this matter to our listeners unless they're truck drivers or farmers? And tenors, if any of you are truck drivers, that is not allowed unless you are a licensed truck driver tenor.

Pamela Kirkland (3:41)

Think about your breakfast. Maybe you had cereal.

Ryan Willard (3:44)

I did in fact have cereal and some waffles and a lot of pancakes.

Pamela Kirkland (3:49)

Okay, back to the point.

Before that all got to your kitchen, someone had to grow the grain, a tractor that runs on diesel may have helped harvest it. Then it had to travel to a factory, then to a warehouse, then to a grocery store. And a lot of those stops involve machines or trucks that run on diesel.

Ryan Willard (4:10)

So when diesel gets more expensive, it can cost more to grow things, build things, and move things.

Pamela Kirkland (4:16)

Sometimes companies absorb those extra costs, but sometimes they eventually show up in the price of groceries, deliveries, or other products. That's why economists and governments pay such close attention when diesel prices spike. And it's also why this isn't just a story about what people pay at the gas pump.

Ryan Willard (4:35)

Diesel is kind of hiding everywhere.

Pamela Kirkland (4:37)

Exactly. You may never buy a gallon of it yourself, but there's a good chance diesel helps something in your house get there. And that is why suddenly everybody is talking about diesel.

Ryan Willard (4:50)