Why is Diesel more expensive than petrol?

waster_2

zolablue25 wrote:

Diesels no account for something like 1 in every 3 new cars purchased. This is far higher than at any other time. The oil companies have not invested heavily enough in their refineries to cope with the extra demand for the diesel and therefore there is a bit of a shortage (relatively speaking) of diesel. There was an article in the news recently that said with current trends continuing there wil be a genuine shortage of supply of diesel within 5 years IF the oil companies do not invest in their refineries to produce more.

Although the governement do see the motorist as an easy target, in this case I don't believe they are profiteering.

I'm not sure that this is accurate regarding the supply of diesel fuel. By far and away the biggest users of diesel fuel are the haulage industry including the railway. This sector has grown year on year and the diesel suppliers are aware of this. Whilst diesel engined cars have increased in numbers, the volume of fuel they consume compared to the commercial sector is, I would suggest, comparatively small.

Also, what not has been mentioned is that diesel is a bigger particulate pollutant than petrol and I think that is why the duty on diesel was increased and may explian the higher cost.

I can also confirm that yesterday I saw a Texaco garage in London that for a litre was selling diesel at 98.9p, whilst unleaded was 99.9p!!!

chris73

The price of Biodiesel is typically around 79.9p/litre at present (March 2004)

Nothing like a site which is updated on a regular basis!.

Don't forget that if you choose to make your own bio-diesel you need to contact the customs and excise fill in forms and pay tax on it.

Most cars will run on a 5% blend of bio-diesel to 95% road diesel without any modification, however it has to be said that the price of this is almost exactly the same as ordinary diesel. Other blends of bio vs road diesel are available, the more bio-diesel there is in the blend the lower the cost of the fuel, however the chances of having to have your fuel system modified will also increase.

100% pure biodiesel is of course the cheapest option, however you will probably need some modifications to your engine or at least additional fuel heating, filters and occasionally fuel tubing.

Incidentally, the cost of Bio-diesel is also Far higher in the UK than the rest of europe as well!.

Porker

and presumably if you run on 100% bio diesel you'll smell like a chip pan when you drive anywhere...

article on this from bbc website here

chris73

Stoppit - i'm hungry already!

But even frying chips still beats sitting on the bus next to somebody with chronic wind, smelly feet and a B.O probelm.

balsingh

I just called up one of the supposed filling stations near where I live for biodiesel and they didnt have a clue what I was on about.

I assume the biodiesel cant be purchased like normal diesel from a filling pump. DO you have to buy a drum of the stuff and store it somewhere?

Only reason I was interested was cos I thought you could fill up like normal diesel, pay the man and GO!!!

chris73

Only reason I was interested was cos I thought you could fill up like normal diesel, pay the man and GO!!!

So did I several months ago. You'd think that in a country which was always preaching green issues there would be heavy investment in alternative and less polluting fuels, followed by incentives to actually use it and a huge advertising campaign.....but welcome to reality.

Several suppliers on that website, no longer seem to be trading, and availability of bio-diesel is patchy and in some areas non existant.

You can buy Bio-diesel by mail order in 25ltr drums (Yes it's true!)

Mail order bio

5% biodiesel ordered in 25 ltr drums will cost you 86p a ltr from the above supplier (The only national one I could find which doesn't want you to order in 1000ltr tank loads), then you need to add almost £14.00 for delivery to each 25ltr drum (so £14.00 divided by 25ltrs will basically add £0.56p to each ltr of the actual fuel which effectively makes Bio-diesel £1.42 a ltr - Wow I really must choose the green option every time!)

Hang on isn't Bio-diesel supposed to be cheaper than standard diesel??.

balsingh

So I was right in thinking that you buy it by the drum and fill up yourself?

Rave

Porker wrote:

and presumably if you run on 100% bio diesel you'll smell like a chip pan when you drive anywhere...

Personally I'd find that preferable to the smell of diesel.

article on this from bbc website here

Typical lazy journalism, parroting the C&E line without bothering to inform people that it's very easy to pay the duty required (28.32p a litre) and run on veg oil perfectly legally. A more balanced (and more amusing) article here.

As for why diesel is more expensive- as you can see here the duty rate is identical for petrol and diesel- I believe that a few years ago diesel attracted a lower rate, hence why it may have been cheaper than petrol in the past. The current price disparity may simply be due to increased demand for diesel, but diesel is a denser fuel than petrol, you are getting more energy and more hydrocarbons for your money, so presumably when crude oil is being refined/cracked you get less diesel out of a given quantity of crude than you would petrol. The lower fuel consumption of your average diesel more than makes up for the slightly higher price of the fuel.

chris73

I've edited the post above to add links to a supplier, however you may as well just fill up at the local filling station with that nasty polluting road diesel.....it's cheaper.

BenL

I believe as Winter draws in the price of petrol will slide a little as less car journeys are made outside of the holiday season.

Diesel will keep rising as people use Diesel for heating so the demand goes up in Winter.

Ben