naturist wrote:
$3.10 vs $3.65 is an almost 18% premium on diesel.
Both my diesels get at least 30% farther on a gallon than their gas-engined versions (which, in both cases, are neither as quick nor as able to drag heavy things around), so I figure I'm still ahead of the game.
amandasgramma wrote:
I agree.....supply and demand. I remember when they made the first cars with diesel. My mother bought one.....said they told her diesel prices would NEVER be as high as gas. HAH....maybe not, but the repair bills on that car ended up costing her a LOT more!!!!
mike mck wrote:
I'm a little confused. I can't remember this big a difference in price.
Phoenix Az.
reg gas about $3.10 while Diesel is $3.59 to $3.65
Anybody have ideas what drives such a large difference in price?
slarsen wrote:Well, when I went to work as a field mechanic in an oil field 50 years ago, we were fracking all over the place. We pumped water down the wells, used explosives to fracture the structures deep underground, started fires in the petroleum zones to liquify and drive the oil towards wells, added chemicals to the bottom of the wells, etc. etc. Also, our wells were under residential subdivisions and we angled our wells in under the housing areas. Amazingly, the residents never had any problems resulting from our well fracking. Go Figure!
Someone above made reference to a statement that diesel would never be higher than gas.
It reminds me that several years ago, I predicted that natural gas (for residential heat) was going to go up faster than electricity, so people should opt for a heat pump when feasible rather than gas heat. Then we elected a guy who doesn't like coal five years ago, which has tended to push up electric rates thanks to the EPA's tightening emission rules, and the 'fracking' revolution has led to a huge drop in gas prices. A few years ago, who among us had heard of fracking?
It keeps one humble.
(BTW, a heat pump still runs cheaper than gas heat at reasonable outside temps, say down to 40 degrees. If anyone cares, I'd recommend a hybrid system today: gas heat below about 40, heat pump above. All the major HVAC companies have hybrid/dual fuel systems available.)
PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Diesel fuel used to be cheaper than gasoline. At that time it was actually possible to make a diesel MH cheaper to run over a five or six year period than a gas MH enough to pay for the price difference between the two units.
Diesel has always gone up in price in the fall and winter because of the increased demand for heating oil in the northern/ northeast US. Heating oil and diesel are very similar so demand exceeds production capacity at times. The colder the winter, the bigger the supply gap.
The introduction of ULSD to combat some of the massive pollution issues with old style diesel fuel has raised the cost. It also raises some of the cost due to changes needed in the infrastructure to store and deliver ULSD. I remember diesel fuel price of 30 cents a gallon when I started driving tractor trailer back in the '70s.
There have also been conversions of some refineries which has resulted in more supply of gasoline and lower supply of diesel.
