# Diesel Prices



## nascarcamper (Jan 27, 2005)

Can anyone tell me why diesel is still so much higher than gas? In my area gas is back down under 2.12 a gallon but diesel is still north of 2.50. Isn't it cheaper to refine diesel?







On a semi related note I just discovered that my truck gets the same mileage pulling my 25bhs rigged out that it does pulling an empty 6 X 10 enclosed trailer. It's the old leonard style with the caved in looking front. Wierd huh?


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

It's supply and demand







Winter heating ect..
I really think it has something to do with the trucker union and "the man"

Diesel here just went down to $2.79, gas $2.15







Be happy with your cost.

Bill.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

From what I've read a lot of the problem is all the various flavors of Diesel. California has certain requirements, and other states have their own. Thus the refinery process isn't just one type of Diesel. This time of year we see the change from Summer Blend to Winter Blend and that has an impact, and as Bill said the winter heating fuel has an impact as well. Though I fully support the BioFuels the reality is that the mix blend also causes a price increase and hey lets face it the fuel industry is enjoying some record profits on our backs. I'm not one to go pointing fingers at price gouging, but seems there must be some level of extra profits in the Diesel prices as well. In my state the fact that our legislature violated the vote of the people a few years ago and increased our gas tax only makes matters worse. I'm getting really close to buying a transfer tank so I can tank up down in Oregon where prices sometime drop .35 to .50 a gallon vs. what I pay here.


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## MaeJae (May 12, 2005)

This is my understandingâ€¦
It has to do with the Diesel refineries. With the hurricanes the â€œdieselâ€ refineries were put out of commissionâ€¦then the prez. released the gasoline reserves so therefore we actually have more gasoline than diesel to go around. (itâ€™s kinda early in the morning I hope I explained that correctly)

Also, like Y-Guy said we are switching to winter blend...there are a lot of factors to consider.

MaeJae


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## dougdogs (Jul 31, 2004)

Has anyone seen a station "out of diesel" ??? There is no shortage. One of the problems is that a few years ago, truckers got to add "adjusted fuel surcharges" to each and every bill of lading. So the truckers don't care how much they pay for diesel.

Has anyone heard truckers complaining of high prices in the past few months???

All us "little guys" are getting screwed big time by these prices

OK, climbing off my soapbox!!


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Today driving into work -- corner of 410 and 16 San Antonio -- Unleaded 1.89 / Diesel 2.19. Rumor has it that corner of 1604 and IH-10 unleaded is 1.79 at Love Truck Stop.

I also have a 117 page paper here from the GAO at work that explains why prices are what they are (its hard to believe but Ft Sam Houston and Lackland AFB goes through a few gallons a day we have to contract for - a F18 uses 60 gallons of fuel on a AfterBurner take off)

Bottom line is: The refinery folks have to look into a magic ball almost a year out and decide how much diesel, JP8, JP4, Kerosene, unleaded (36 varieties), mid grade (27 variations), High grade (22 variations) and decide what % of a 55 gallon drum goes to what....

They simply made too little diesel so they could make more unleaded to keep unleaded prices down (if you can say that)

Also - if refineries were allowed to simply make one unleaded grade, one mid, one high that would increase the fuel capacity of the refineries by 40%.... but each state has their own fuel refinery standard -- and thats why we pay so damn much.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

The reason is simply this. The oil companies charge more for diesel because they can. It is a free market economy. Right now, No. 2 heating oil is in demand, and since No. 2 and diesel are essentially the same product, there is a higher demand for both. I believe that diesel is refined in the same refineries as gasoline.

The crude is cooked, and all the different products are pulled off at different levels of the "cracker".

I'm pretty sure there is a refinery type guy here in the forum that can elaborate.

Tim


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Here is how a 42 gallon (oil industry standard barrel size) barrel of oil is typically divided up.


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## GlenninTexas (Aug 11, 2004)

I think that if every state that had their own special rules on the refining additives, etc of eithe rgasoline or deisel were requirwed to have refineries within their own borders, they'd think twice about passing some of those requirements.

Regards, Glenn


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

Today in Denver I saw regular unleaded at $2.19 with diesel advertised at $2.89.

Randy


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> Here is how a 42 gallon (oil industry standard barrel size) barrel of oil is typically divided up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No wonder I am a Pepsi man....2.0 gallons of Coke for every barrel of oil...yuck!!!























Steve


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Check out this link.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining2.htm

Isn't education wonderful? But this doesn't tell me why diesel is currently more than gasoline. Awhile back diesel was substantially less than gasoline. Could it be I smell a rat?









Bill


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## alvinsanti (Oct 19, 2004)

I heard that #2 heating oil and diesel oil are the same - except for the gas tax and some minor additives.

This came from a large trucking company - they use a heating oil trucker to help them when the trucks run out of fuel.

Your comments please???


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## Swanie (Oct 25, 2004)

Have a diesel VW bug and though the mileage is good, have not been happy with VW at all. My dh (who drives it) has been whining a lot about the price of diesel, too. I think we'll sell it soon . . .


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

alvinsanti said:


> I heard that #2 heating oil and diesel oil are the same - except for the gas tax and some minor additives.
> 
> This came from a large trucking company - they use a heating oil trucker to help them when the trucks run out of fuel.
> 
> ...


See the second line of the chart I posted. Heating oil and Diesel are for all purposes the same basic thing.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

GlenninTexas said:


> I think that if every state that had their own special rules on the refining additives, etc of eithe rgasoline or deisel were requirwed to have refineries within their own borders, they'd think twice about passing some of those requirements.


Glenn this was a point that Rush Limbaugh made against GW opening the strategic oil reserves. His comment was that if GW wanted to really reduce the price of fuel all he needed to do was set that all Unleaded and Diesel would have one blend nation wide. Not allowing the States to set their own blend. This alone he estimated would have had the biggest impact in saving our $ and getting the product to market quicker.



alvinsanti said:


> I heard that #2 heating oil and diesel oil are the same - except for the gas tax and some minor additives.
> 
> This came from a large trucking company - they use a heating oil trucker to help them when the trucks run out of fuel.
> 
> ...


There was a period after the hurricanes when firms were being allowed to do this. Doing it any other time can result in HUGE penalties. The red dye in the heating oil will not disappear and next time you take it for service they are required to report this to the feds, then you are busted big time. I've heard of people doing it, including some farmers, and they find out later that they are in deep trouble.


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

Y-Guy said:


> I've heard of people doing it, including some farmers, and they find out later that they are in deep trouble.
> [snapback]64649[/snapback]​


 I always thought farmers got a break and could use the off road diesel....I know all the farmers around me have diesel tanks on the farm for the tractors.

I guess they still need the on road for the trucks though....









Steve


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

> This came from a large trucking company - they use a heating oil trucker to help them when the trucks run out of fuel.
> 
> Your comments please???


If he get's caught, like YGuy said, that is a biggy. I don't know about the feds, but I know the state DOT folks get real touchy when they find out you didn't pay your road tax. I have even heard of DOT spot checks in some states where the inspectors will dip all the tanks to ensure everyone is using Diesel and not heating oil.

Tim


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## wingnut (Mar 21, 2005)

Hey Y'all

I work for a large truck dealership in VA. As far as the heating oil and number two diesel they are very close. " off highway" fuel can be used for a short period of time, but please don't use it on a regular basis. It will cause problems in the engine as well as uncle sam. With the new EPA regulations on the diesel particulate emissions, the engines and computers the govern them have gotten very complex. All the new ECR valves and rerouting of turbo lines as well as increase temps in the engines have made them "tempermental" at best. The biggest problem right now is the new engines are getting 25%-45% less mileage.
I have had four long time customers go out of business in the past two months. An earlier post said something about the truckers not complaining. You ought to work with me for a day. The average new truck on my lot right now costs $120,000.00 and the average owner operator makes under $2.00 a mile. The average fuel mileage is 4-6 miles to gallon. These guys are in trouble. It may be easy to talk about them, but remember one thing. EVERTHING you see in the store was deliverd by truck. They are just trying to make a living for their family like we are.


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## rtavi (Jul 8, 2005)

What really erks me is the way that fuel that is sitting in the ground waiting to be pumped-already paid for by the gas station-can suddenly go up by $.89 in about 6 hours. Here in Hattiesburg, MS the fuel is 20-30 cents higher than in a podunk little village about 70 miles north of us in Quitman.







Hattiesburg is the hub for Katrina victims to resupply from the coast so I guess that the fuel is so much higher because "they" can get most any price for it.







Supply and demand.


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