Why is Diesel more than gas?

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So I was told that diesel is easier to refine and cheaper to make and is a byproduct of gas or something to that extent. So why is it costing me more at the pump?
 
There is a lot more diesel used than gasoline through out the world. It has a higher demand. You also get half as much diesel out of a barrel of crude oil as you do gasoline. In a 42 gallon barrel you get roughly, ~20 gallons of gasoline and ~10 gallons of diesel fuel. Diesel also has a $.06 higher tax than gasoline.
 
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I believe we also export diesel and fiddle with the refining process as home heating oil is a similar fraction of the crude. When a refinery is producing HHO, they can't make as much diesel and vice-verse if I understand correctly.
 
Put another way: a barrel of oil only makes so much gas, lube oil, diesel, kerosene, HHO.

Those are separate markets, with the same base supply (crude)...but with separate/different demands...there is much higher demand for diesel because of its greater range of use...further, diesel is more for business; think trucking, farming, industrial production...those demands are not as varied as gasoline, which is principally consumer demand and consequently, more price sensitive...consumers will decrease use when gasoline gets high...businesses don't have that choice...
 
I have thought a good idea, since Washington tells us there's nothing they can do, would be to make domestically produced bio-diesel tax free.
20 years of zero taxes could produce a domestic industry devoted to bio-diesel production. The cleaner low sulfur type to qualify.
 
The main reason is US and European taxes on diesel. Europe taxes diesel fuel less because they think diesel generates less green house gasses (GHG). So they buy lots of diesel from the U.S. and export surplus gasoline. The net effect is to increase the price of diesel in the U.S. and Europe exports gasoline they no longer need to overseas markets (where the CO2 is released, BTW doing nothing for GHG reduction).

Secondarily US lawmakers goofed and wrote the law so there is more tax on diesel than gasoline. Finally diesel is used as heating fuel. Gasoline is not. So seasonal demand for heating oil pulls diesel prices up.
 
Right now there is significant pressure on diesel production, which happens every year about this time.

August & September are the biggest shipping months for the end of year holidays and almost all transport vehicles run on diesel (when was the last time you saw a gasoline-engined big rig?).
We're heading right up to the start of autumn harvest season, almost all farm machinery runs on diesel.
Refineries & tank farms have started gearing up for winter which means producing home heating oil, which is basically (off spec) diesel.

Right now RUG is much more expensive than diesel in the Chicago area - some 30¢/gal more in most places. Almost assuredly due to the recent pipeline break, bad corn crop & Whiting refinery issues but typically diesel is cheaper in the summer and more expensive in the winter.
 
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
I have thought a good idea, since Washington tells us there's nothing they can do, would be to make domestically produced bio-diesel tax free.
20 years of zero taxes could produce a domestic industry devoted to bio-diesel production. The cleaner low sulfur type to qualify.


As long as the northern states wouldn't have to run it during the colder months...... Even the 2% biodiesel we've had problems of it gelling and plugging filters at 20F, with fuel treatment. Bio-diesel also costs more to make, not sure where the break even point is now days. Even tax free I don't think it would be competitive enough unless the price jumps significantly.
 
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The ULSD requirement, as mentioned, didn't help prices. Up here, diesel tends to be cheaper than gas in the summer, then it climbs towards winter. It's gone up here recently, but is still below the price of gas. I'm sure that'll change in a couple months.
 
Originally Posted By: volk06
Even the 2% biodiesel we've had problems of it gelling and plugging filters at 20F, with fuel treatment.


Then your B2 is terrible quality fuel.

Nearly all diesel in Illinois is B11 and I stick with a supplier during the winter months that is expressedly 11% biodiesel and IMHO one of the best fuel suppliers in the area. I have never had a fuel-related issue running their B11, including gelling, even at -27ºC, even when I did not add any antigel.

I keep a mason jar half full of fuel in my unheated, uninuslated garage. At that temperature it was still bright, clear & completely liquid.
 
Diesel does take less to refine.
Also, it is a bit denser than gasoline.

http://www.txoga.org/articles/308/1/WHAT-A-BARREL-OF-CRUDE-OIL-MAKES

^This is what they make, NOT what they COULD make.
Not the gain of 2.2 gallons per barrel after all is said and done.
it is not a mistake.

They put gasoline in this country high on the priority list, and are raking it in. They COULD bias towards diesel, and make it cheaper.
 
That "what a barrel of crude oil makes" page would be even nicer if they included the amount of energy it takes (perhaps in gallons of diesel or fuel oil) to refine those products from the barrel of crude.
 
Diesel passenger cars meeting the new standards are not powered by old CAT port injection engines. Lots of electronics there. If you live in the warmer states and have a little understanding about how these things work, go for it. If you expect the cars to be as gump stump reliable when treated the way the great unwashed treat their gas powered cars - I don't think we are there yet.
 
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Originally Posted By: volk06
Even the 2% biodiesel we've had problems of it gelling and plugging filters at 20F, with fuel treatment.


Then your B2 is terrible quality fuel.

Nearly all diesel in Illinois is B11 and I stick with a supplier during the winter months that is expressedly 11% biodiesel and IMHO one of the best fuel suppliers in the area. I have never had a fuel-related issue running their B11, including gelling, even at -27ºC, even when I did not add any antigel.

I keep a mason jar half full of fuel in my unheated, uninuslated garage. At that temperature it was still bright, clear & completely liquid.


The paraffin was separating out and plugging the fuel filters. If you took a heater and put the filter on it, it would melt off of the filter element. The tractors use the brown glass Deere filter where you can see in it. Powerservice didnt help at all but howes seemed to fix the issue. Was cenex brand fuel.

MN has had quite a few problems in the past as well.

Different base stock for biodiesel has different properties. Some plants were making it out of animal fat instead of soy because it's cheaper. Animal fat BD has a higher geling temp and CFPP. My guess is they bought BD and the plant used animal fat instead of the soy.
 
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Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Diesel passenger cars meeting the new standards are not powered by old CAT port injection engines. Lots of electronics there. If you live in the warmer states and have a little understanding about how these things work, go for it. If you expect the cars to be as gump stump reliable when treated the way the great unwashed treat their gas powered cars - I don't think we are there yet.


Every manufacturer that sells automobiles in the United States offers a diesel powered auto elsewhere, Europe, Asia, and probably Australia.

Europe has a more stringent diesel fuel standard than the US (USLD 10ppm), so the technology exists, and even flourishes elsewhere. As stated above Europe pushes the use of diesel power through taxes, meaning gasoline is taxed more than fuel.

One end user that hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread is the US military, and they're more than likely the largest single user.
 
In my area diesel is now only about 5 cents more then regular. A few month ago it was about 20 cents more then premium.
 
Originally Posted By: blacklamb
So I was told that diesel is easier to refine and cheaper to make and is a byproduct of gas or something to that extent. So why is it costing me more at the pump?


I had a diesel until 2002; diesel became more than gas.
 
Originally Posted By: steveh
In my area diesel is now only about 5 cents more then regular. A few month ago it was about 20 cents more then premium.


I pay $3.55 for gas...Diesel is 3.97.
 
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