Price of Diesel

[kingcole]

dont know the answers but some factors could be that diesel cost more to refine, odd but true. i think it might be that it cost more to refine the low sulfur stuff required for road use. also there maybe refinary issues with how much capacity is available for diesel vs petrol right now. theres also more tax on diesel, which accounts for higher price though not the amount it can change.

Diesel is actually a lot cheaper to refine, there is just not as many refineries for diesel, so there is a supply and demand issue.

Over the past 10 years we have gone from having about 15% of our cars running on diesel to about 60% now, and it's still rising.

More diesel refineries re planned, but until they come online the price may get wider

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

this is because there was a big fuss over the polluting effects of the emissions at ground level, so the government of the day decided to be very green and ecological and add more tax to discourage use/pay for the health effects. theres a cynical view as expressed by Cadiz that its to make up for the losses in revenue by the uptake over petrol, but im pretty sure the diesel became good an dpopular after the green tax issue.

I wasn't being cynical (for once!)

 

[seagul]

I drive to London most days in my van for work,it cost me £30 In diesel each day £8 congestion charge not sure why because you sit in traffic for hours, and when i finally get there after leaving home at 5am im charged £4.40 per hour to park, and when i ring to pay my parking im charged 20pence admin charge total for the day £73.40 just to work.

 

[vegster]

I seem to remeber that when diesel was first becoming populkar for cars as opposed to tractors it was because it was priced cheaper than petrol, to encourage people to buy diesel cars. But pretty soon afterwards it became MORE expensive than petrol, not less. And stayed that way.

But diesel is cheaper here than petrol

Yes, about 20 years ago Diesel was cheaper but regarded as a bit of a dirty fuel and Diesel engines more sluggish and less responsive. But, the European car makers kept plugging away and made better engines. Then came the revelation that modern Diesel engines were cleaner for the environment than nasty old petrol engines. At that time the fuel tax on diesel was definitely less than petrol too and so car owners started to jump ship.

In much the same way that Cameron's legislation in order to give consumers the lowest tariff is doomed to failure, thus the government realised their tax return from petrol was falling and upped the tax on Diesel to compensate. So, If most energy consumers end up on the lowest tariff, the shareholders still demand their wad and so the lowest tariff will rise to maintain those profits. That's pretty much what happened to diesel, plus demand went up so the producers cashed in too, simples.

 

[franks brother]

just use red

 

[Titanic]

Diesel is actually a lot cheaper to refine, there is just not as many refineries for diesel, so there is a supply and demand issue.

How can that be true? We don't have a diesel shortage or queues at the pumps? They are clearly able to meet the demand. There is no shortage of diesel.