Community Forums

arthurval · 10-13-2005, 07:06 PM

Diesel at Flying J by Lazy Days in Tampa,Fl. was $3.24 and reg gas was $2.80 (.44 cents difference) today Oct 13,2005. Any accurate info as to why diesel so much more than gas since I was always under the impression diesel did not go thru as much refining and logic would make me think it should not be as expensive as gas. All discussion,answers,ect. would be welcome. Art

arthurval · 10-13-2005, 07:06 PM

Diesel at Flying J by Lazy Days in Tampa,Fl. was $3.24 and reg gas was $2.80 (.44 cents difference) today Oct 13,2005. Any accurate info as to why diesel so much more than gas since I was always under the impression diesel did not go thru as much refining and logic would make me think it should not be as expensive as gas. All discussion,answers,ect. would be welcome. Art

Overlander · 10-14-2005, 03:11 AM

Art ;
From what I've read , the reason for the price difference has to do with refining.
With there being a shortage of refining capacity ( their words not mine) and a high demand for gas, most of the crude is going for refinement to gas leaving the supply of diesel low

GStream40 · 10-14-2005, 04:49 AM

Another reason the oil companies have used the last few years, in the fall they have to produce home heating oil (fuel oil) so this takes part of the refining capacity for that.

Another reason for the higher price according to them is the fact that they have to refine diesel fuel without the sulfur for EPA requirements.

Yep, any reason for higher profits and greed.

Ron

TXiceman · 10-14-2005, 09:14 AM

And once we get cold weather, the excuse will be they need it for home heating oil. I am getting a bit tired of having nothing but lies told to us by the oil companies.

Ken

Cajun Paul · 10-14-2005, 09:43 AM

In the retail business, cost is only a small factor in pricing. "What the market will bear" is the strongest factor. These oil companies push the price of fuel as high as they think they can go without tumbling the house of cards. As long as the price is above cost, they push it as high as they can go. This philosophy is used throughout most of the retail world. Not just petroleum. The term "supply and demand" sums it up quite nicely.
Please don't shoot me. It's not my fault!

Fyrflie · 10-14-2005, 07:05 PM

I love all of this talk about fuel prices.

With respect to oil refining capabilities, What would the oil industry do if the hurricanes never hit?

It's simple, they would find some other reason to raise the prices.

The charge high prices for fuel because they can. And we, as consumers continue to pay it.

Plain and simple.

DonavonP · 10-15-2005, 04:48 AM

Gas here in MN was 2.31/gallon. Diesel was 3.19
per gallon. How about that spread?

There wasn't a line to wait in. I liked that.

blin10 · 10-15-2005, 01:01 PM

One reason is BTU content.
Diesel 139,000 btu's per gallon

gasoline 124,000 btu's per gallon.

So a gallon of diesel has 12 % more energy.

DonavonP · 10-15-2005, 05:11 PM

Gasoline in Minnesota has about 120,000 BTU per gallon due to the ethanol in the gasoline.

This will be dropping more as MN goes to 20% ethanol in a few years.

They're going to fix our diesel too with soybean oil. I can hardly wait.

911Medic · 10-17-2005, 04:10 PM

Crude oil is made up of many different hydrocarbon compounds. The refining process heats up the oil until it boils. The resulting vaper is routed through a column that progressively cools the vapor. At different temperatures, different compounds condense and are collected. The vapor continues up the column and each hydrocarbon compound is extracted. Diesel is one of the compounds and gasoline is another. Basically, the when you refine crude oil, you get several different products from a single process. Very nifty. However, the quantities of each compund produced from a single gallon of crude are probably not similiar. So I would imagine that the current price gouging is a supply and demand thing.

If you google Diesel refining, you'll find a lot of info on the process.

Ken Roberts · 10-17-2005, 04:30 PM

Another thought on the probable gouging issue. The oil refiners know full well that there are a whole lot less diesel consumers to contend with; thus, there are less potential complainers. In '06 every congressman(woman) is up for re-election and so are 1/3 of their senate counterparts. The oil companies know that when on the campaign trail these politicians will be meeting with god knows how many constituents and constituent groups, i.e. unions, AARP, etc. and etc. None of these constituent groups is going to be concerned with diesel; but; they sure will make an issue of gas pricing. Watch how gas prices will s-l-o-w-l-y go down over the next 13 months. Those feeding at the pig trough will be glad to tell THEIR constituents how THEY personally helped to make that happen. Unfortunatrely, those of us with diesel RVs are a minimal number at best. The truckers have a lot more beef than we have; but, again I doubt that any campaigner is going to address the plights of the over-the-road trucker, Ken,'04 DSDP

LandHo · 10-19-2005, 08:33 AM

I think you guys hit the nail on the head...
diesel refining is competing with heating oil refining. so they are refining more heating oil in proportion to "normal" production level. Also the low sulfur thing. And since you can only get so much gasoline/heating oil/diesel/kerosene from 1 gallon of barrel of crude...something is going to be in "short supply" You cannot refine more gasoline or diesel out of a barrel of crude...It is not chemically possible... blame the molecules.
here, unleaded 2.59, diesel 3.29...ouch. part greed, part supply and demand...

N8XV · 10-19-2005, 02:12 PM

I think when you find a way to get a honest answer as to why all oil based fuels are high priced you have the answer. The one post I see the most, is about supply and demand. I have a hard time with that idea at least in our area as I sure don't see any stations out of gasoline or diesel. They have all you want to purchase if your willing to pay the price. I see the same supply and demand reason posted for propane being high priced. Many saying the grain crop is coming in and the big propane dryers are using all the propane. Here there is no shortage of it either. I just bought 400 gallons of propane for $.99 a gallon. Many large users are paying much less for it. But many home owners are paying $1.50 an over for it. The real reason fuel is high is because we are willing to pay the price to get it.