price of fuel

fntylbl

the price of diesel always used to be lower than price of petrol. why is it now the  price of diesel is always higher than price of petrol ?

TadleyBaggie

That was in days when diesel cars were not so popular, so they then became popular because diesel was cheap. So the demand for diesel goes up, and when that happens so does the price.

Grumpy_chap

fntylbl said:

the price of diesel always used to be lower than price of petrol. why is it now the  price of diesel is always higher than price of petrol ?

For most of the past 30 years, diesel has been more expensive per gallon than petrol.

laidbackgjr

The UK has sufficient refining capacity to meet Petrol demand, but Diesel demand requires expensive imports - these have got more expensive as one of the largest exporters of Diesel was Russia and the war in Ukraine has curtailed supply.

Grey_Critic

When the demand for diesel increased the price was increased to pay for the cost of a new refinery tomeet the deamnd. Think it was French but not sure. Here in the UK the price increased to Two pence more per litre than petrol.

Of course once they had got back the cost of building the new refinery you would have expected it to drop back - no such thing. It stayed high even though the cost of producing giesel is chaeaper than petrol.

Now of course they are charging around Twenty Pence a litre more than petrol. The suppliers such as Shell are suffering and need the money (joke in bad taste)

Interesting to note the Wholesale price of Gas is now lower than before the war in the Ukraine - excuse for actually raising the price is the suppliers contracted to buy at inflated prices so it will be next year before they need to come up with another excuse for keeping it high.

oldernonethewiser

Looking back, apparently in 2015 diesel was cheaper than petrol for the first time in 15 years, so definitely "not always" cheaper.

At my local Costco diesel is 22p per litre more expensive than regular unleaded (12p more expensive than premium unleaded)

jimjames

It's amazing how much the price varies though, one garage selling at £1.595 a litre which seems to drive the price down for supermarkets nearby. Another area with no garage doing so and prices are still £1.72 a litre at the same chain (Morrisons/Asda).

Supermarkets used to drive the prices down, now they're keeping prices high. It was warned at the time that the Asda takeover could lead to higher fuel prices, looks like they were right.

https://youtu.be/RSQiTI4Hp-o

chrisw

I just filled up at Morrisons for £1.36 a litre. 

So presumably they are making a profit on that and at some of their sites they are making an additional 24p to 36p a litre.

beatthebookienet

If a petrol and diesel car cost the same to buy then the diesel should still be slightly cheaper to run especially if you do lots of miles or long journeys
Diesel tends to be cheaper to tax and insure but sometimes repairs can be more expensive because a turbo diesel has more parts that can go wrong compared to a naturally aspirated petrol car

jimbo6977

If an independent Texaco franchise in a tiny town in Shropshire can make money at 139p/l then everyone can, so anyone selling at more than that (other than the tiniest remote independent) is basically a ripoff merchant. 

Car_54

jimbo6977 said:

If an independent Texaco franchise in a tiny town in Shropshire can make money at 139p/l then everyone can, so anyone selling at more than that (other than the tiniest remote independent) is basically a ripoff merchant. 

How do you know they're making money?