Gas has dropped below $3 here over the last few months but diesel is virtually unchanged still close to $4. This could spell disaster for the diesel car market. I don't ever remember a price disparity of this scale ever happening before, at least in my memory. Pretty weird or what?!
Diesel prices NOT dropping!
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It's heating season! Lots of oil is used for heating in rural areas where there aren't natural gas lines. Refining process isn't too drastically different between kerosene/diesel/heating oil.
Truck activity is busier than ever as well.
Diesel prices tend to fluctuate a lot less than gas though. Gas prices took a 30 cent leap around Thanksgiving here.
Truck activity is busier than ever as well.
Diesel prices tend to fluctuate a lot less than gas though. Gas prices took a 30 cent leap around Thanksgiving here.
Yeah, diesel being more than gas is a permanent situation it seems. This problem seems to be worsening slowly but surely as time goes on. Gone are the days where buying the diesel could actually save you money. If you're lucky the extra mileage may cover the additional cost of diesel fuel, but that's it. The price doesn't move up and down as much as gas. But I can't help but feel like when gas makes a big increase, diesel makes a small increase. When gas prices make a big decrease, diesel pretty much stays the same.
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I remember a price gap between gas and diesel pretty well in 2011. Diesel price was over a dollar more than gas where I was in suburban/rural Illinois. Get closer to Chicago and the prices and price gaps grew almost exponentially - but it's always like that there.
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Right - diesel and heating oil are close to the same thing (as is kerosene) so when there is high demand for heating oil (it was an abnormally cold November across many areas) diesel is likely to climb. Add to that, overall energy prices (gasoline and natural gas) are also up as of late. Check out TheEnergyDesk. RBOB is wholesale gasoline. There is a delay as to when these prices *typically* rise/fall at the pump, but you should be seeing gasoline on it's way up too. It just started climbing around here this week.
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Actually, when I bought my Cruze diesel, gas price for regular was around 3.20 for regular and diesel was 3.75-3.79
Regular 85 octane is now 2.99 here at the cheapest stations. Diesel is 3.64. Not the same amount of price decrease but enough for me.
Still $100 to fill up my ram 2500 hemi and about $50 to fill the Cruze diesel and get more miles out of a tank on the Cruze. So I don't care about that small amount of change I could save at the pump with the gas Cruze.
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Regular 85 octane is now 2.99 here at the cheapest stations. Diesel is 3.64. Not the same amount of price decrease but enough for me.
Still $100 to fill up my ram 2500 hemi and about $50 to fill the Cruze diesel and get more miles out of a tank on the Cruze. So I don't care about that small amount of change I could save at the pump with the gas Cruze.
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Part of the problem is that the removal of sulfur for transition to ultra lower sulfur diesel fuel has forever increased the cost of producing diesel fuel relative to gas. During this process, the energy content of the fuel is also decreased slightly, reducing mileage and power by 1% according to an article I read.
I still prefer low sulfur fuels in my engines. Far lower acidity in the crankcase and exhaust system.
I don't know how the energy content was so dramatically affected by sulfur removal, SO2 is a combustion inhibitor, and sulfur has a much lower BTU value than hydrocarbon, so getting sulfur out of the fuel should improve combustion.
the extra cost of complying with the mandate for 15ppm diesel fuel is less than 5 cents per gallon; there is an additional 6 cents per gallon federal tax on diesel relative to gasoline. In Florida, diesel has a 5 cent per gallon greater tax than gasoline. As pointed out diesel is cheaper to produce than gasoline. The reason for the outrageous diesel prices has to do with the fact that the oil industry exports 1 million barrels of diesel fuel daily to Europe because of the higher prices and greater demand there (over 50% of vehicles in Europe are diesel powered) Consequently, without the price pressure of extra diesel available to lower prices the refiners are gouging the public. Perhaps if enough persons contacted there Congressman about this situation changes may occur
What is your source that the cost increase is less than 5 cents per gallon? I suppose a better question would be to ask what is the ACTUAL difference in cost to me, when it's all said and done, of using ULSD? I agree with you though that the export/supply/demand/gouging the public thing seems to be the main reason diesel is outrageous.
I understand that during the process of removal of sulfur to ULSD levels, the fuel loses ~1% of its energy accurding to my understanding of this process thus causing me to need 1% more of it. If I need 1.01 gallons of ULSD for every 1 gallon I used to need, at $4.09 per gallon that's over 4 cents in extra fuel that I now have to buy just to do the same amount of work I used to do with a gallon. So I'm spending another 4 cents a gallon right there.
I understand that during the process of removal of sulfur to ULSD levels, the fuel loses ~1% of its energy accurding to my understanding of this process thus causing me to need 1% more of it. If I need 1.01 gallons of ULSD for every 1 gallon I used to need, at $4.09 per gallon that's over 4 cents in extra fuel that I now have to buy just to do the same amount of work I used to do with a gallon. So I'm spending another 4 cents a gallon right there.
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See below.
Unfortunately I don't have access to the article I read YEARS ago that the industry said it would only add 5-7 cents/gallon to meet the ULSD requirements.
The exported diesel fuel was discussed over at GMI with links showing the export rate of refined ULSD daily, US government statistics.
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$2.37 in Ohio!? **** I wish jersey had those prices. It's almost $1.00 more per gallon here. That's crazy
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Relax people. We all knew diesel would cost more at the pump than gasoline. If the 4 cents per gallon that this 1% decrease of energy in the fuel has you scraping for change, you probably shouldn't have bought a brand new car in the first place. It really doesn't matter in the big picture.
The Cruze diesel has an amazing range, great mpg, and like all diesels, is expected to be more reliable into higher mileages than the gas counterparts.
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The Cruze diesel has an amazing range, great mpg, and like all diesels, is expected to be more reliable into higher mileages than the gas counterparts.
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I was just trying to illustrate that there is an additional way that the transition to USLD has increased cost which makes the change more expensive than it seems.
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That's peanuts. Drive 1 MPH slower.
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If the Diesel guys did what we did to get hyper badges, that range would be ridiculous and totally justify the higher fuel costs.
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