With a month to go in the Big Oil administration, it’s time that we get right down to it.
This country must immediately examine the precise reasons that have inflated the price of diesel fuel (which have lead to runaway inflation in the cost of nearly every product). We run on diesel; long-haul transportation (trucks and trains), construction, farming, municipal and emergency services, home heating, are all dependent upon the fuel.
The price of crude has cratered. Why is diesel fuel still as much as a dollar more than regular grade gasoline, when it has historically been on a relative (yet orbiting) par?
Yes, we changed the formulation of diesel fuel for environmental reasons. And that’s a good thing. But the move to low sulfur diesel fuel added less then ten cents to the cost of each gallon.
Where is the lion’s share of the cost increase coming from?
The Bottom Line: The USA under-produces diesel, due to our primary (catalytic) method of production.
If the Federal government was seriously interested in boosting the overall economy of new cars sold in this country, they would actively pursue policies to quickly update our refineries to hydrocracking technology. This would yield a much larger percentage of diesel fuel per barrel and alleviate the current shortage (which may be the primary cause of the inflated price per gallon). We could then rapidly change over to far more fuel-efficient clean diesel passenger cars.
If I was an over-the-top conspiracy theorist, I might surmise that Big Oil is intentionally inflating the price of diesel in order to thwart the adoption of superior technology that would be ultimately good for the country but bad for Big Oil’s profit margin.
Not that I’m a big fan of the X-Files, or anything of the sort (cough).
The return of a strong economy will be found in energy independence. This will come partly from the move to electric-powered vehicles, and partly from the move to clean diesel-powered vehicles.
If Big Oil wants to make friends and be green, they need to fess up. Stop wasting all of those advertising dollars pushing an agenda. Start working for good of the country (and the world).
Big Oil must put their massive profits to good use by immediately updating their refineries to produce more diesel fuel, by converting to hydrocracking.
Boy oh boy would I love to know the true reason for these insane diesel prices. With my first new car being a diesel, this has by far been my biggest frustration.
The most rational explanation I have heard is that there is a much bigger demand for diesel in Europe and less demand for gasoline. Therefore we have been shipping our diesel to Europe and they have been shipping their gasoline to the US. There may be some truth in that but I still feel it is in no way the main reason for this huge price difference.
In eastern Washington state, I am paying anywhere from a $1.05 to $1.20 premium for diesel over gasoline. I have been watching the free fall of gasoline the past 80 or so days and have observed diesel falling about HALF the rate that gasoline falls.
I wasn’t too big on conspiracy theories in the past but the one you proposed doesn’t sound too crazy! =/
@Dana – Some of the price differential may be geographic and dependant upon the local refineries and the supply situation. On the way to the airport today, regular grade gasoline was $1.49 and diesel was $2.33.