Why is the diesel & petrol price gap more than 13p?

thescouselander

cheesy.mike wrote: »

So why is diesel much more expensive in the USA than petrol? In Colorado and Wyoming last week I was paying $1.64 / US gallon for petrol but diesel was closer to $1.90.

My understanding is that diesel is more expensive to produce than petrol meaning that if fuel duty is equal then it will always be more expensive than petrol. Countries like Belgium and Netherlands have lower taxes on diesel to encourage more people to use it - hence the lower price there.

EDIT: Just found this, which backs up what I just posted - http://www.petrolprices.com/why-diesel-costs-more-than-petrol.html

To be honest I dont have an answer to that one. I can only guess that the EU study that I read was based on expected future trends for fuel usage and that the petrol shortages in the US have not yet materialised. I will attempt to find the link to the original report.


Edit: I cant havent found the EU report yet but this artical goes some way to explaining some of the problem.

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=959

goldspanners

cheesy.mike wrote: »

So why is diesel much more expensive in the USA than petrol? In Colorado and Wyoming last week I was paying $1.64 / US gallon for petrol but diesel was closer to $1.90.

26 cents more for a gallon is still much less than the difference per litre here.

Bob63

goldspanners wrote: »

26 cents more for a gallon is still much less than the difference per litre here.

No it isn't, it's exactly the same. UK average price at the moment is 91.5p unleaded, 106.7p for diesel. That makes diesel 16.6% more expensive. In my US example diesel is 15.8% more expensive. That's close enough for me.

In fact, my memory is clearly incorrect. I paid $1.64 for regular, however it looks like I was way out on the price of diesel. It turns out that Americans are paying a significantly higher premium for diesel than we are. The correct figure for Colorado is between 34% and 53% depending on what type of petrol you use. Take a look at the figures here - http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp - and drill down to some of the states to see variations.

Still, I really enjoyed paying 28p/litre in the US. If you saw the size of the rental car I got, it's just as well!

goldspanners

cheesy.mike wrote: »

No it isn't, it's exactly the same. UK average price at the moment is 91.5p unleaded, 106.7p for diesel. That makes diesel 16.6% more expensive. In my US example diesel is 15.8% more expensive. That's close enough for me.

In fact, my memory is clearly incorrect. I paid $1.64 for regular, however it looks like I was way out on the price of diesel. It turns out that Americans are paying a significantly higher premium for diesel than we are. The correct figure for Colorado is between 34% and 53% depending on what type of petrol you use. Take a look at the figures here - http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp - and drill down to some of the states to see variations.

Still, I really enjoyed paying 28p/litre in the US. If you saw the size of the rental car I got, it's just as well!

going by your last post it was 26 cents of a difference between a u.s gallon of petrol compared to a u.s gallon diesel. which meant it was less of a difference than us in the uk.
now after looking at you link its almost $1 of a difference in some states.
i was in florida in october and our hire car cost $50 to fill up,it was a big car aswell with a fairly big tank. i wish i could fill my car up here for anywhere near $50. £50 wont even fill it.

abacab

Local news item. A garage at Darsham,suffolk(A12) sold u/l at 79.9,diesel at 93.9 (no vat)for most of monday as a protest against goverment duty.He intends to do the same soon.

badboybill

Thanks for the replies.....

So is the USA any different then Europe when it comes to pricing?, given the replies so far, no. If you take into account the conversions of the $, €, & £ it has no bearing on the gap price.

All we do know is this gap price surfaced over a year ago when all the fuel prices were rising. Why does it exist today and who is making money from it?

After reading these posts it not just a UK issue. Remember governments around the world are borrowing like crazy and raising taxes is not an option.

Correct me if I'm wrong but does commerce throughout the world run on diesel? And if so, what is the quickest way of raising money in the shortest period of time without the need for politics & legislation?

Now let’s see where this takes things :eek:

badboybill

Today Morrissons closed the gap to 11p - 88.9 UL 99.9 diesel.

So now we have our answer it was a fixed arrangment which has now been broken. We'll see how long it takes for the rest to follow.