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Gas prices vs. diesel prices

9

996GT2

Diamond Member
I noticed over the last couple of fill-ups that gas prices have fallen steadily in the Midwest, but diesel prices have stayed pretty much the same. For example, the lowest price for regular unleaded is 2.42 in my area, but the lowest price for diesel is a whopping 3.59!

I looked up a couple of other big cities (Chicago, Boston) just for comparison, and while the difference is not as big, they are still quite significant:

Chicago: 2.56 gas, 3.27 diesel
Boston 2.85 gas, 3.69 diesel

Is there a particular reason why the price of diesel not falling as much as the price of gasoline?
 
my guesstimate:
diesel is usually used in semi trucks/etc.
gas is usually used in "personal" vehicles.

during the winter/when it gets cold, people in general are less active, and consequently drive less.
commercial shipping doesn't stop.
diesel prices stay relatively constant, gas prices fluctuate.
 
Diesel demand is high, worldwide. Gasoline demand is flat.
A barrel of crude is 47% gasoline and 20% diesel.
They have to refine enough crude to meet diesel demand; creating more gasoline than they need.
 
Fine by me if they have to make a bit of extra gas to keep up with diesel demand. I filled my tank at $2.299 tonight which makes me quite happy 😀
 
thedarkwolf said:
diesel prices are more stable. Good when gas prices sky rocket, bad when they plummet.
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Diesel hasn't been cheaper than gasoline in years (not that I recall, anyway). It seems to spike just like gas does. I don't buy it though, so maybe I missed something. It used to be cheaper than 87, though.
 
at my local station, gas was 2.79 in the morning and 2.69 a few hours later.
Diesel went from 3.25 to 2.99, so I think it is rather subjective.
The ultra low sulfur standard is what drove diesel up over gas many years ago. It is a costly process.
 
SparkyJJO said:
Fine by me if they have to make a bit of extra gas to keep up with diesel demand. I filled my tank at $2.299 tonight which makes me quite happy 😀
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Filled up for $1.99 this weekend. I noticed diesel was still around 2.99, though.
 
skyking said:
at my local station, gas was 2.79 in the morning and 2.69 a few hours later.
Diesel went from 3.25 to 2.99, so I think it is rather subjective.
The ultra low sulfur standard is what drove diesel up over gas many years ago. It is a costly process.
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and it's cleaner than European Diesel. I love being better than them. 🙂
 
The US is skewed because the number of gasoline engines outnumber diesels by far. The refineries are geared to manufacture gasoline over diesel to meet the demand. No matter what the price per gallon is, they are still making bank.

Diesel is also seasonal because it's essentially the same as number 2 fuel oil (used for home heating) and leading up to winter, a lot of customers are filling tanks to prepare for the season. Since the market is relatively stable, the prices just don't fluctuate as much. Heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuels will all be consumed at a similar rate no matter what the prices are....

In contrast, the gasoline market will start to see demand declines at certain thresholds. People won't drive as often, will carpool, etc... It just becomes a question on whether or not to sell domestically or try to export oil as the prices decrease.
 
Diesel has been 3.79 at my station for hte last 4-5 months, I hate filling up when I see gas at 2.29 at the same station ... I might be driving my xterra more then my TDI, it's almost the same per mile.
 
Diesel has slowly been dropping here catching back up to premium gas. Just made a 330 mile trip yesterday in my TDI and pulled 46mpg which made me feel a little better about the costs.
 
Gas formulas change seasonally for pollution control, and summer blends are more expensive. I do not believe diesel has the same reformulation requirements.
 
indeed. #1 diesel has a much lower gel point, and also less BTU. It is used in all the continental north parts of the country in the winter months. I don't see it here in the puget sound area unless at a truck stop.
#1 = 126K BTU/gallon
#2 = 133K BTU/gallon
Gasoline = 120K BTU/gallon
Propane = 84K BTU/gallon
 
skyking said:
indeed. #1 diesel has a much lower gel point, and also less BTU. It is used in all the continental north parts of the country in the winter months. I don't see it here in the puget sound area unless at a truck stop.
#1 = 126K BTU/gallon
#2 = 133K BTU/gallon
Gasoline = 120K BTU/gallon
Propane = 84K BTU/gallon
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Wow, that is really bad news for diesel drivers who spent more money on the diesel-engined versions of their cars for the mpg.

Over here, the price gap between regular unleaded gas and diesel is as much as $1.40/gallon at some stations. Combined with the fact that winter-blend diesel isn't really much better than gasoline in terms of energy density, and that seems like a double whammy in terms of fuel costs.
 
Still, don't expect the gas prices to stay this low. I was happy as they were dropping below $3. I'm really surprised how low they've gone. I saw it for $2.19 on my way home from work today. Still, I highly doubt it will stay low as it never does. I almost want to buy a huge tank and store a ton of it though 😛
 
996GT2 said:
Wow, that is really bad news for diesel drivers who spent more money on the diesel-engined versions of their cars for the mpg.

Over here, the price gap between regular unleaded gas and diesel is as much as $1.40/gallon at some stations. Combined with the fact that winter-blend diesel isn't really much better than gasoline in terms of energy density, and that seems like a double whammy in terms of fuel costs.
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I've heard an engineer say that with Tier 4 emissions there is no longer an (fuel and reliability) advantage for diesel vs gas engines. The main reason they keep specifying diesel is equipment operators Already have the support infrastructure for diesel equipment.

It's possible that the easy conversion to natural gas might be more attractive than conversion to gasoline.
 
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iamwiz82 said:
That looks like a dip due to winter blend to me.

Diesel is $4.09 near my house as of this morning, $1.60 more per gallon than gas.. I am glad I ended up swapping my diesel for a gasser in October.
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Yeah, most likely. The gasser dip probably won't last too long though, it'll be back into the 3.xx range again.
 
I think diesel and home heating oil use the same part of crude. The refineries need to produce the home heating oil in larger quantities during winter, reducing the amount of diesel available.


Just saw scarpozzi covered it already.
 
I got my stage 5 tune in the beetle Monday, and a short tank (350 miles) with highway and some hooning yielded 47 MPG. I'll stick with the diesel.
 
skyking said:
I got my stage 5 tune in the beetle Monday, and a short tank (350 miles) with highway and some hooning yielded 47 MPG. I'll stick with the diesel.
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Except i can get 38 on regular gas. Diesel does not offer the bang for buck these days since it has a large price premium over gas, and does not offer a fuel economy bump that cancels that out.
Edit: I should add that when i am refering to diesel pricing i am talking about in my general area, in other areas it might be cheaper and make more sense to get diesel. In my area it does not.
 
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