# Price of diesel fuel vs gasoline **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185 "2014-12-26T03:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/1 "2014-12-26T03:05:16Z")
Don’t think this has been asked. I know that the falling price of oil has led to a fall in the price of regular gasoline. ’ 'Why not a corresponding drop in the price of diesel? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/2 "2014-12-26T03:19:40Z")
probably due in part to differences in refinery processes. In the U.S. refineries are geared towards producing gasoline (catalytic cracking.) Elsewhere, where middle distillates (kerosene/diesel/jet fuel) are in demand, hydrocracking is the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/3 "2014-12-26T08:50:50Z")
UK-side, diesel prices \*have \*fallen in step with petrol. Still a few pence higher as it is taxed even more. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/4 "2014-12-26T13:41:12Z")
In Northern Ohio the price of gasoline has dropped to $1.99/gal. Diesel is still in the $3.50/gal range. Federal/State tax in Ohio is 46.4 cents/gal on gasoline and 52.4 cents/gal on diesel. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/5 "2014-12-26T14:25:34Z")
Diesel fuel is basically the same thing as home heating oil. One of the reasons that I have heard for the price of diesel remaining high is that it is winter, and the demand for home heating oil is high enough that it is keeping the price of diesel high along with it. Diesel fuel and gasoline used to track fairly close together, but in the last decade or so they have become much more independent of each other in the marketplace. It’s not that uncommon for one to rise while the other falls and vice-versa. Some folks are predicting that once the weather starts warming up in the spring, the price of gasoline will increase due to increased agricultural demands where the price of diesel is likely to drop due to the drop in home heating oil demands. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/6 "2014-12-26T15:02:15Z")
[Here](http://fleetowner.com/fuel/gasoline-likely-trend-lower-diesel-prices-ready-run)’s one explanation (from two years ago but still applicable). > [@](#): > > Ironically, one of the primary reasons is the amazing boom in oil production in the U.S. and Canada. While domestic oil production will be instrumental in the country’s efforts to achieve energy independence, the crude coming from oil shale in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere is better suited to making gasoline than diesel. > > “Most of our crude is super light and super sweet,” Kloza explained. “Our refineries were not really built to process it. [The upshot is that] refineries running it will make more gasoline than diesel. Some estimates are that they will produce ten percent to as much as seventeen percent less diesel.” > > Right now, Kloza noted, the United States exports diesel, primarily to Central and South America. If domestic production swings toward gasoline, the U.S. may have to import diesel while exporting gasoline, for which there is less demand worldwide. > > “The Chinese demand for gasoline is nowhere near the demand in the U.S.,” Kloza noted. “The demand that is growing is for diesel, not gasoline. Diesel has more BTUs, more energy. Diesel is the molecule every refiner in the world wants to focus on,” he said, “including here in North America.” > > Demand for diesel is also brisk here, he added, including in the new oil fields, which are utilizing huge numbers of trucks and other diesel-powered equipment in fracking operations. Diesel fuel may also have to replace fuel oil in the northeast this winter because of fuel oil market conditions. It all adds up to higher diesel prices. It all still applies. North American oil results in more gasoline than diesel while demand for diesel grows more than demand for gasoline. Some [fun](https://www.pricelock.com/resources/fuel_hedging/charting) [resources](http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/). Diesel’s 2 year US avg price peak was $4.11 in Feb 2013 and is now $3.65. Gasoline’s was $3.71 in March 2013 and is now $2.91. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/7 "2014-12-26T16:34:46Z")
Diesel used to always be cheaper than gasoline, then when gas prices started rising in the 2000s diesel did too. It surpassed the price of gasoline and has stayed higher for many years. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/8 "2014-12-26T22:46:30Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Diesel used to always be cheaper than gasoline, then when gas prices started rising in the 2000s diesel did too. It surpassed the price of gasoline and has stayed higher for many years. As I recall it, the price of diesel lagged significantly behind the price of gas when prices started rising in southern CA around 2000-2001. There seemed to be a brief boom in the sale of diesel autos during that period. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/9 "2014-12-26T23:27:18Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Diesel used to always be cheaper than gasoline, then when gas prices started rising in the 2000s diesel did too. It surpassed the price of gasoline and has stayed higher for many years. Not so [according to this 2008 factcheck](http://www.factcheck.org/2008/05/diesel-fuel-and-gasoline-costs/). From at least 1994 on diesel was more often more costly than cheaper than gasoline. Traditionally there had been seasonal variability: > [@](#): > > Historically, the price of diesel fuel at the pump actually has been higher than that of regular gasoline more often than it has been lower, as can be seen in this chart, which is based on weekly statistics from the federal Energy Information Administration. Until recently the normal pattern has been for gasoline to cost more than diesel during the summer months, when families use their autos for vacation travel, and for diesel to cost more during the winter months, when demand for home heating oil rises. (Diesel and home heating oil are similar fuels, and the price of home heating oil tends to set a floor for diesel, which could be substituted if it became cheaper.) > Lately, however, that pattern has not held. Since September 2004 there have been few weeks when diesel wasn’t selling for more than gasoline … Again, the same explanations for the price differential given then are all the more true now. Gasoline is experiencing less increase in demand than increase in supply as cars become significantly more efficient while North American oil preferentially produces more gasoline than diesel (given its “sweetness”) increasing the supply dramatically. Diesel supply is not increasing as much and demand for it is increasing more significantly. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/10 "2014-12-27T03:32:46Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Some folks are predicting that once the weather starts warming up in the spring, the price of gasoline will increase due to increased agricultural demands where the price of diesel is likely to drop due to the drop in home heating oil demands. That doesn’t pass my smell test; what agricultural equipment runs on gasoline? Everything I’ve heard of runs on diesel. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/11 "2014-12-28T04:27:27Z")
In 2006, the Federal mandated ULSD (Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel) for all highway use. This increases the refining costs as additional processing is needed to reduce the sulfur content. In addition, additional additives are needed to compensate for the lower lubricity resulting from the lower sulfur content. Now, this is not the only factor, just one I have not seen mentioned, yet. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/12 "2014-12-28T10:55:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That doesn’t pass my smell test; what agricultural equipment runs on gasoline? Everything I’ve heard of runs on diesel. I had the same thought. Crop dusters? That’s all I can think of other than four-wheelers and a few old combines and grain trucks. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/13 "2014-12-28T15:38:41Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > In 2006, the Federal mandated ULSD (Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel) for all highway use. This increases the refining costs as additional processing is needed to reduce the sulfur content. In addition, additional additives are needed to compensate for the lower lubricity resulting from the lower sulfur content. > > Now, this is not the only factor, just one I have not seen mentioned, yet. And the second of those “fun resources” links shows the relative fraction of cost in a graphic. Refining is 6% of the current average pump cost for regular gasoline and 13% for diesel. Not sure why the difference in distribution and marketing - 17% of the current average pump cost for gasoline and 24% for diesel. And note, those diesel figures are percents of a higher number. It translates to those refining, distribution and marketing costs being a fairly inelastic about $0.67/gallon for gasoline and $1.35 for diesel, about twice as much. Bottom line is that your point is well made: the pump price of diesel is less contingent on the cost of the raw material than gasoline is, as more of its pump price is in the higher refining, distribution, and marketing expenses. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/14 "2014-12-28T19:04:16Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > I had the same thought. Crop dusters? That’s all I can think of other than four-wheelers and a few old combines and grain trucks. Crop dusters use avgas, which isn’t the same stuff used in authomobiles. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-diesel-fuel-vs-gasoline/708185/15 "2014-12-28T20:30:04Z")
And it has lead in it.