$1 difference between gas and diesel, WHY ??

supercub wrote:
The best I can remember, when diesel was $4.00 a gallon, wasn't oil something like $110 a gallon? Now oil is around $60 a gallon and diesel is around $3.75 here in central CA. Can someone explain this to me? Nearly 1/2 of what a barrel use to cost, yet the price of diesel is nearing the highest ever prices.
Another weird thing is, a few months ago, diesel and gas (again here in central CA) were the same.........now gas is a $1.00 cheaper the diesel at the major truck stops. What gives??

Easy. Supply and demand. Others have previously stated that diesel fuel, jet fuel, and home heating oil are essentially the same thing, chemically, it just takes some minor changes at the refinery to determine the exact product. The entire northeast US is currently under a major cold front causing an increased demand for home heating oil. The futures market also plays a role so pricing in local markets gets volatile and complex real fast.

In +-2007 when crude oil was selling at about $150 a barrel, gasoline in CA was about $4.75 a gallon. Go figure! Recent changes at the CARB now require ultra low sulfur diesel which as I understand requires additional refining steps (expense) to remove for on road diesel fuel. It's funny but ships at sea still burn bunker oil which is the bottom of the vat (cheap tar like junk) as far as oil refining goes.

Chum lee