BREAKING: Australia could face diesel rationing within weeks and prices above A$4 a litre, nearly 40% above today, if the US goes ahead with its export ban, the most worrying development in global fuel markets since the war began, per MST Marquee's head of energy research. Australia is the world's largest importer of diesel in absolute terms, accounting for 1% of global fuel demand but 10% of the world's seaborne diesel imports, and it runs an economy weighted to agriculture and mining. A ban could force the government to stage 3 and 4 of its National Fuel Security Plan, which covers demand reduction and directed allocation of supply. The US exports about 1.3 million barrels of diesel a day, a quarter of its refining output, and has been covering the gap left as Russia and China stopped exporting refined fuels. The UK is now preparing rationing plans of its own, with 42 days of diesel left as of July.