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Why is diesel more expensive this year than last year. I realize that gasoline is more expensive than it was last year, but only by 20 or thirty cents. Last year at the same time as this year, diesel was more than a dollar cheaper than it is now and a good 50 cents less than gas. Why is diesel more expensive than gasoline this year? I am glad that I do not own diesel right now, but honda is supposed to come out with a California compliant diesel engine for the pilot and ridgeline in 2010, but I see no reason to switch to diesel if the cost difference is extreme. If diesel stayed a dollar or more less than regular, I would switch.
There are different refinery configurations to produce more gasoline or diesel for any given run from a refinery. In the US the refineries are configured to mostly produce gasoline so at times there can easily be a squeeze on the diesel market.
The facts; it is only recently that diesel engines for cars can meet US emissions regulations, recently that low-sulfur diesel became available in quantity, that diesel engines cost more than gasoline engines, and consumers have not demanded many diesel powered cars, have kept any refiners from making the investments to produce a higher percentage of diesel.
I expect any greater demand for diesel will be satisfied through fuel imports for the time being so it is doubtful you will see a large drop in price but it will vary in the marketplace like any commodity.
Diesel does have a higher energy content than gasoline so you really have to figure the cost per btu to do a good comparison.
The even sadder part is the trickle down effect. All of the products in this country that are transported by trucks will also go up in price. Since the trucking companies are spending more on fuel, they have to pass that price along to their customers, and so on and so on.
A friend of mine works for a local trucking company. He said his boss had to spend more than $300,000 more on diesel this year than last. We have several bottlenecks on the different highways that enter Humboldt county [ 299, 36 and 101 ] that require that the trucks be loaded onto shorter trailers before entering the county. This has been an ongoing reason for the higher cost of living in far norther California. Several sections of 101 between the Bay area and us are being addressed that will end the bottlenecks. It is still a day late and a dollar short. Diesel here is still at $4.20 and regular at $3.80, I am surprised that it has not gone up since the 10th.
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