What Is a Crack Spread?
Weekly price data through August 7, 2026
A crack spread estimates a refinery’s gross margin by subtracting the cost of crude oil from the value of a fixed mix of refined products. It is only a benchmark. This is not refinery profits because it excludes actual crude inputs and product yields, as well as energy, transportation, RIN, and operating costs.
This page calculates the New York Harbor 3-2-1 crack spread as:
[(2 × gasoline price × 42) + (ULSD price × 42) − (3 × WTI price)] ÷ 3
Gasoline and ULSD use EIA New York Harbor spot prices in dollars per gallon. Multiplying each by 42 converts the price to dollars per barrel. WTI is already priced in dollars per barrel.
“3-2-1” describes the assumed refining mix: three barrels of crude oil are converted into two barrels of gasoline and one barrel of diesel.
The current 3-2-1 value
For the week ending August 7, 2026, the NY Harbor conventional 3-2-1 proxy was $57.08 per barrel. The gasoline-only crack was $43.83 and the diesel-only crack was $83.60 per barrel.
Frequently asked questions
What is a crack spread?
A crack spread estimates a refinery's gross margin by subtracting the cost of crude oil from the value of a fixed mix of refined products. It is only a benchmark. This is not refinery profits because it excludes actual crude inputs and product yields, as well as energy, transportation, RIN, and operating costs.
How is the NY Harbor 3-2-1 calculated?
This page uses two barrels of NY Harbor conventional regular gasoline and one barrel of New York Harbor ULSD, converts product prices from gallons to barrels, subtracts three barrels of WTI, and divides by three.
Why can diesel and gasoline cracks move differently?
They are separate product markets. Seasonal demand, inventories, refinery outages and trade can change gasoline or diesel prices even when the WTI leg is unchanged.
Where this fits
The crack spread is the price link between the U.S. refining system and the pump. See how it connects to gasoline prices and the Hormuz price record.
Sources and scope
- EIA spot prices, weekly averages: NY Harbor conventional regular gasoline, NY Harbor ULSD and Cushing WTI. There is no NY Harbor RBOB spot series, so the conventional-gasoline formulation is used and labeled.
- Values are computed only for weeks carrying all three legs; the series begins in 2006 with the ULSD record. Superlatives are computed over the complete weekly history at build time.