Diesel fuel is cheaper than gasoline again, yahoo!

[spoon059]

One other thing is tax. Federal tax on gas is 18.4 cents per gallon, diesel is 24.4 cents per gallon. That's in addition to state taxes. Then you get into demand issues. Buy diesel by the highway, its gonna cost more. Buy it a couple miles off the interstate, its cheaper.

[PlayersZ28]

Originally Posted by TCNashville

This actually used to be true but speculation now controls the price of oil. All about the almighty $, and since the US is now one of the worlds leading oil exporters we have no intentions of ever being energy independent.

Most recent data I found was 2016 and the US isn't in the top 10, Canada was #4. Let me know if you have more recent info. Fracking has maybe got the US to where it is a net exporter but not "leading".

Did you mean "energy dependent"?

[Chiggins]

I was told by someone once it's about demand... gas is generally for cars which people can cut back on when prices get high. Diesel is for personal trucks but also semi, trains, commercial generators, heavy equipment, and etc. Basically they know most diesel buyer have to buy it no matter what the price. It's stupid because diesel IS cheaper to make.

[Chiggins]

By the way which I am happy to see by everyone else pricing on diesel. It's 2.86 in Virginia as long as you arnt on i95 which I avoid filling on due to its usually .20 more expensive for some reason.

[TCNashville]

The US is currently exporting more oil than 6 of the 14 OPEC countries and is now in the top 10 in the world for exporting oil which makes it a major player. Ever since the 1973 Arab oil embargo the US has striven to reduce its dependence on foreign oil imports therefore making it oil independent of those sources. https://www.whichcountry.co/which-co...-the-most-oil/

[PlayersZ28]

That chart has no date on it and the other data on the link is 2009 and 2012. Net exports is the important number as a country might export one type and import more of another type dependant on needs for refining. Not sure where you would find actual current data by country. Everything I found was either </=2016.

[bankr63]

Has always struck me as odd that diesel is generally more expensive than gas in the US. I don't think I've ever seen it listed higher than gasoline here in Canada, and we have low sulfur (or sulphur up here) diesel too.

The Canadian explanation is that gasoline is more heavily taxed than diesel, but that never made sense to me as heavy trucks certainly do a lot more damage to our public roadways than lighter cars.

[PlayersZ28]

Originally Posted by bankr63

Has always struck me as odd that diesel is generally more expensive than gas in the US. I don't think I've ever seen it listed higher than gasoline here in Canada, and we have low sulfur (or sulphur up here) diesel too.

The Canadian explanation is that gasoline is more heavily taxed than diesel, but that never made sense to me as heavy trucks certainly do a lot more damage to our public roadways than lighter cars.

It fluctuates either way up here. Usually higher in the winter when it's winter diesel. In the summer I've usually found it to be 5-10cents/L less than regular gas. When we're in the US SW for the winter it always seems to be higher than gas. I think the most we paid this past winter was 3.85/g in CA.

[bdreinv]

Higher prices coming gas $4.00 per gallon California today on the web!

[TCNashville]

Originally Posted by PlayersZ28

That chart has no date on it and the other data on the link is 2009 and 2012.

Yeah I noticed that too while reading the article. The only thing that stands out with the relationship of those 2 dates is we couldn't have been exporting 1.9 million barrels of oil in '09 or '12 because the export ban wasn't lifted until '15 by Obama I think. That's why I thought the info was somewhat current.

[PlayersZ28]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

Higher prices coming gas $4.00 per gallon California today on the web!

GasBuddy heatmap has CA & Pac NW as highest prices, midwest the lowest. Similar on the Canada heatmap.

[TakerEasy]

So why doesn't it cost a lot less in cities where the refineries are located, such as Houston?

Originally Posted by RyRoRyan

A few things have caused diesel to be more expensive. The primary factor is the regulation to low-sulfur diesel #2. This takes more refining and additives than the standard diesel you knew of back in the day. Currently on top of the oil alone, it costs $.49 to refine to diesel #2 and $.60 to refine to gasoline per gallon. So with this, diesel should be cheaper, BUT the cost to transport diesel is actually more. Per gallon, diesel weighs about 7lbs/gal, and gas only weighs 6.2lbs/gal. Thats .8lbs/gall diff. This means with the average tanker truck being able to hold 9000 gal of fuel, the weight difference can be 7200 lbs. More weight=more transportation costs. Also note that since the DOT his limited the weight of trucks to 80000 lbs, depending on the empty weight of the tractor/trailer, they may not be able to haul a full 9000 lbs of diesel, causing them to make more trips just to move the same quantity of fuel. Add that with the current excise tax of diesel being 6 cents higher than gas...it all just adds up.

[Higgy]

I paid $1.60 per litre for gas today in Vancouver. The diesel price was 17 cents a litre cheaper. Glad my towing truck is a diesel. The prices are crazy here and will probably go up a bit more too

[norty1]

About the same here $2.499

[Sundancer330]

Diesel $3.09, Gas $2.98 today, been creeping up.

[PlayersZ28]

Originally Posted by TakerEasy

So why doesn't it cost a lot less in cities where the refineries are located, such as Houston?

Good question

This winter I was through Artesia, NM. The fuel directly across the road from the refinery was the most expensive in town. The tanker drove 1/2 mile to get to the station. The CircleK in town was the cheapest, Walmart was close to it.