Diesel prices

[Ryan_V]

Why has the price of diesel gone up while the price of gas has gone down? I know diesel is usually higher, but it usually falls with gas. I just don't get it.... Diesel takes much less refining.... If anyone can shed some light, I would appreciate it!

[delcecchi]

Lots and lots of tractors and combines burning lots and lots of diesel. Supply short. Price goes up.

[311Hemi]

Getting to the winter season....diesel goes up due to additional of demand of home heating oil.

[trolloni]

combines and tractors run on off road diesel no road use tax applied ,much cheaper than on road diesel.america runs on diesel and yeah the supp"liars" know it ,if you want fuel prices to go down it needs to be traded only in this country on our markets instead of the worldwide market,fuel prices are the worst killer of our economy,we cant make it on 80 dollar plus oil !

[MNexpoler]

This of year some of the refining goes into making home heating oil instead of diesel. Need more refineries.

[CJH]

I heard that freight trucking is starting to pick up again as well.

[Powerstroke]

Winter fuel. Happens every fall when they bring out winter blend. That and the home heating oil connection.

[MJ1657]

The explanation that they are giving is because of the demand for diesel in the oil patch in North Dakota. I have been up there and its an incredible amount of trucks and equipment running around.

The lines I have seen at the refinery in west Fargo are very long.

I'm not saying I agree with this but it's probably the only excuse they could come up with.

[Powerstroke]

I don't really buy the Nodak excuse. After paying $4.29 this week I looked back over my fuel logs and I haven't payed more than $4.06 since I started using a tracking program in April. The boom in Nodak has been going all year and there hasn't been prices above $4 more than a couple times. It was actually quite a stable year for diesel.

[MJ1657]

I hauled alot of loads to Grand Forks and Fargo this summer. I bought fuel in Fargo whenever I could because it was cheaper there then here.

Doesn't make any sense.

[Transporter]

All the excuses will never make any sense, because they are just excuses or more accurately, lies. The only reason diesel is higher than gas is because they want it to be, fuel surcharges basically pass the majority of the cost along for the trucking industry which in turn keeps the industry's lobbyists quiet. If it weren't for the surcharges the industry would have been screaming years ago, same with the ag side, crop prices have gone way up so the sting of high fuel is gone or the ag lobbys would be very vocal. I run into western Canada all winter and this is the first year that I saw diesel prices equal to or higher than gas, I guess Canadian diesel just became appealing to the rest of the world users that are supposedly to blame for our high diesel prices. More "supply and demand" at work? No, more Bullshat being shoved down our throats, get used to it. Life is too short to try and make sense of it.

[LMITOUT]

There have been diesel shortages in ND and there was just one announced a few weeks ago when I was back. Never saw the price jump due to it...they were on par with prices here.

[Powerstroke]

The annual price spike due to winter blend diesel has always happened since they started pre-blending diesel at the pump.

That being said, transporter is quite correct about the cost of diesel being over-inflated by surcharges. Just 7-8yrs ago when fuel spiked, 2003/4 I think, diesel was routinely 20-25% cheaper than unleaded, and it should be. Diesel is easier and cheaper to refine. But of course, somewhere along the way, bureaucrats in washington decided that all the problems with roads are to be blamed on over the road trucks and therefore a higher surcharge should be put on diesel to help fund transportation projects. So glad that has worked out. We have higher prices and the same crappy roads.

[Transporter]

The surcharges to which I refer are those charged by the trucking companies to the shipper. Most are based on the price of diesel in 2002, when the prices started to rise dramatically and took on the wild price swings of .25-.50 cents per gallon, rather than the penny or two or three common before then. With this surcharge in place, carriers are basically getting most of the difference from fuel prices in 2002 to today. That has kept the industry lobbyists off of capital hill squawking about fuel prices, (but undoubtedly another squawk has taken it's place). Diesel road taxes are not the cause of the vast price difference from gas to diesel, the only reason is they want it to be, oil execs have told the lie of diesel or "distillate" as it is now labeled being more costly to produce than gas, in higher demand in other developing parts of the world, home heating oil usage, etc. etc. Take your pick, yet this month is the first time ever that the diesel I buy in Canada has been priced more per gallon than gas, albeit only a few cents to a quarter a gallon, not .75 to a buck like in the US. As long as it is allowed for investors to profit from the buying and selling of fuel as a commodity without being required to take delivery and possession of said fuel we will be paying prices that correlate to absolutely nothing.

[Orlip]

Who here knows someone using fuel oil for heat??

Did not buy that one before and i wont believe it now. If the gasers paid over $4

They would demand someones head. Trucking just passes the cost to the consumer

So dont be fooled gaser's your paying, everytime you buy your grocerys, pay your garbage etc.

[MJ1657]

I know a couple people still using fuel oil.

I'm headed to Texas saturday morning. It should be interesting to see fuel prices on the way down.

[jmd1]

Truck stops here in AZ are 409 for diesel and 305 for unleaded yesterday. No fuel oil here, the hight fuel price has been here for months. One thing that i do think goes into it today is the fact that the refining while easier might cost a bit more due to the ultra low sulfur requirements. I don't get it at all but does not look like they are going to go down for a while.

[MJ1657]

Thats about the same prices we have here.

[pushbutton]

Who here knows someone using fuel oil for heat??

Sadly, I do....me! You, Powerstroke, Transporter are spot on. It is simply a money grab. Big oil must have made some type of deal lately to keep gas prices down and are allowed to keep the less refined, less costly diesel/heating oil inflated for the lose of profits they were used to getting from gas. Great way to fly under the radar, but as you pointed out, we all are still picking up the tab.

[delcecchi]

Who here knows someone using fuel oil for heat??

Did not buy that one before and i wont believe it now. If the gasers paid over $4

They would demand someones head. Trucking just passes the cost to the consumer

So dont be fooled gaser's your paying, everytime you buy your grocerys, pay your garbage etc.

I think lots of oil burners for home heat on the East Coast.

[311Hemi]

I remember a number of the old houses I lived in and visited in college in Duluth used home heating oil.

[Scott K]

I think most all houses with fuel oil heat, are being phased out now. There are a lot less houses each year being heated by fuel oil, so to use that excuse, the demand should be getting lighter and lighter each year, no?

It is greed, nothing more!

[BobT]

I don't really buy the Nodak excuse. After paying $4.29 this week I looked back over my fuel logs and I haven't payed more than $4.06 since I started using a tracking program in April. The boom in Nodak has been going all year and there hasn't been prices above $4 more than a couple times. It was actually quite a stable year for diesel.

I would agree that the Nodak operation would affect anything more than local prices. One small area of high demand isn't going to have much impact on the entire country.

[MJ1657]

I'm in Missouri right now and cheapest I have seen here is $3.92

[MJ1657]

I seen diesel as low as $3.59 in texas today but most of it was in the $3.75-$3.93 range. It would vary as much as .30 in just a couple miles of driving.

I paid $3.88 at the truck stop I ended up at just south of Dallas.