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These past five years could very well go down as the best years that U.S. shale oil exporters will ever see.

The first full week of 2021 saw the nationwide price of diesel continue to rise, as it had for the last weeks of 2020. Trucking’s main fuel notched a 3-cent increase, according to the Energy Information Administration’s weekly data released Jan. 11.

Ship owners facing looming deadlines to use less-polluting fuels have slashed the number of new vessels on order because they don’t know which alternative technology to switch to.

A new government report says gas mileage for new vehicles dropped and pollution increased in model year 2019 for the first time in five years.

The U.S. didn’t import any Saudi crude the week of Dec. 28 for the first time in 35 years, a reversal from just months ago when the Kingdom threatened to upend the American energy industry by unleashing a tsunami of exports into a market decimated by the pandemic.

The last days of 2020 and the first few of 2021 continued the same trend, with diesel prices rising nationwide.

Saudi Arabia urged caution as OPEC+ gathered to discuss whether to hike supply again in February, with many countries wary of undermining a fragile recovery.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into 2021, the trucking industry will continue to address coronavirus-related challenges while confronting issues that existed long before most people had ever touched a face mask.

Oil advanced with support from a weaker dollar and expectations of declining U.S. crude inventories.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel rose 1.6 cents to $2.635 a gallon and notched a new nine-month high after first reaching that peak a week earlier, the Energy Information Administration reported Dec. 28. The average price of diesel was $2.659 on March 23.