Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday after President Trump floated a diesel export ban the previous day, with industry analysts warning that such a measure could backfire.
Brent crude futures (BZ=F) for November delivery hovered near $100 per barrel while WTI (CL=F)) futures hovered around $90 a barrel.
Trump said Tuesday that he would support a ban on exports of diesel fuel.
"I've said let's not send out the diesel," the president said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "We make a lot of diesel. It could have a little bit of an effect on regular automobile gasoline because when you do that, you know, it's a sort of a flow. It's a balance."
The national average price of diesel fuel has surged to an all-time record of $6.52 per gallon, according to AAA.
Analysts see an export ban as a further strain on global energy prices.
"We believe any possible US diesel export restriction could significantly tighten global supply further and benefit Asian refiners," Citi analysts wrote on Wednesday.
Wall Street argues that US refineries wouldn't be able to process all the trapped domestic fuel, ultimately reducing total fuel supplies. While Gulf states may initially see localized relief, other areas of the country that depend on fuel imports would see a spike in pump prices.
"This immediately causes those prices to rise, and will boomerang back on portions of the country that rely on imports, namely the East Coast and to a lesser extent the West Coast," said Garrett Golding, assistant vice president for energy programs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, on X regarding a diesel export ban.
Lower production rates overall could also mean "even higher gasoline prices as well," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, on X on Wednesday.
A regular gallon of gasoline hovered near a seasonal national average high of $4.47 on Wednesday.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.