Sound Off on Current Diesel Price

romad

romad

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I’m in Prescott, AZ for the Thanksgiving holiday and RG is $2.999 with diesel 12 - 20 cents higher. However I did see one Circle K market where diesel was listed at only 2 cents higher than RG. The only problem was the RG listed price was $5.00!

I’m guessing the store was new but had yet to activate their pumps so they used the price sign to temporarily “discourage” fuel stops.
 
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wilcal

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Just did a loop from Texas to Mississippi to Louisiana to Texas.

Cheapest prices were today back in Texas. Regular at $1.99 Diesel at $2.59.


Most of LA around $2.99-$3.09 for diesel. MS was $3.10-$3.20
 
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kjclow

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paid $2.88 for D2 in SC yesterday. Rug was $1.95. That's the largest spread I've seen in this area for a long time. Well, except for hurricane pricing and availability issues.
 
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93celicaconv

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kjclow said:
paid $2.88 for D2 in SC yesterday. Rug was $1.95. That's the largest spread I've seen in this area for a long time. Well, except for hurricane pricing and availability issues.
Click to expand...
Wipes out all financial incentives of diesel over RUG, doesn’t it? At theses spreads, financial incentive in driving economics is with RUG. I guess that is what the EPA wants for us!
 
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kjclow

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93celicaconv said:
Wipes out all financial incentives of diesel over RUG, doesn’t it? At theses spreads, financial incentive in driving economics is with RUG. I guess that is what the EPA wants for us!
Click to expand...
Before the fix, I always figures that as long a diesel was no more than 30% higher than rug, I will still being more economical. At an almost 50% spread, a gasser makes more sense, except that I don't have any of those.
 
rotarykid

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In metro Denver Over the last two & half weeks RUG has dropped from around, just over ~$3 a gallon to the ~$2.30s range.....

D2 has dropped only about ~$0.20-0.30 a gal from the $3.10 range to $2.80 or so....(~$2.69 for D2 with my kroger rewards a few days ago)....

RUG seems to be dropping a few cents every couple of days, for now....Saw RUG as low as $2.329 this morning, $2.389 only 3 days ago..
 
TornadoRed

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93celicaconv

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Below is a view of US regular unleaded gasoline (RUG) vs. diesel regarding the average retail price per year from 1995 to 2018, with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The year 2008 major gap change between RUG & diesel had a lot to do with ULSD production making major distribution in the US. But note how that gap closed again in 2009. The gap widened again in 2011 thru 2014, then narrowed a bit from 2015 thru 2017. But look at the gap in 2018. This isn't a seasonal issue (as the prices are average over the course of the year). And with reasonably narrow gaps after 2008 (after the introduction of ULSD), ULSD isn't an explanation to the very wide gap in prices in 2018. Something else is going on. That has been my point all along. Just had to produce to chart to explain it.
http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/thumbs/RUG_vs_Diesel_Prices.jpg

OK - I guess I don't know how to load an image of a JPG or PDF onto this site. The chart is pretty telling - if I could only figure out how to display it on this forum.
 
Last edited:
romad

romad

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93celicaconv said:
Below is a view of US regular unleaded gasoline (RUG) vs. diesel regarding the average retail price per year from 1995 to 2018, with data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The year 2008 major gap change between RUG & diesel had a lot to do with ULSD production making major distribution in the US. But note how that gap closed again in 2009. The gap widened again in 2011 thru 2014, then narrowed a bit from 2015 thru 2017. But look at the gap in 2018. This isn't a seasonal issue (as the prices are average over the course of the year). And with reasonably narrow gaps after 2008 (after the introduction of ULSD), ULSD isn't an explanation to the very wide gap in prices in 2018. Something else is going on. That has been my point all along. Just had to produce to chart to explain it.
http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/thumbs/RUG_vs_Diesel_Prices.jpg

OK - I guess I don't know how to load an image of a JPG or PDF onto this site. The chart is pretty telling - if I could only figure out how to display it on this forum.
Click to expand...

Is this what you wanted? If so, you click on the little icon behind the "Linked Thumbnail" That will open more options below it. I selected and copied the "Medium Image" link then pasted it into this post.

 
TornadoRed

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93celicaconv said:
Something else is going on. That has been my point all along.
Click to expand...
That "something else" is a vast oversupply of gasoline. Refiners are losing money (not much but a little) on every gallon they sell. But the demand for distillates is great so they keep buying and refining crude oil -- even if it means producing gasoline that they can't sell and have to store.
 
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93celicaconv

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romad said:
Is this what you wanted? If so, you click on the little icon behind the "Linked Thumbnail" That will open more options below it. I selected and copied the "Medium Image" link then pasted it into this post.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is what I wanted. Since you have it on yours, it is visible for the forum now. I'll remember your guidance on how to properly post images for future threads - thank-you!
 
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93celicaconv

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TornadoRed said:
That "something else" is a vast oversupply of gasoline. Refiners are losing money (not much but a little) on every gallon they sell. But the demand for distillates is great so they keep buying and refining crude oil -- even if it means producing gasoline that they can't sell and have to store.
Click to expand...
With crude prices at unbelievably low prices now (just over $50/barrel, has sold in the past well over $100/barrel), I find it a bit difficult to believe refineries are losing money on the crude oil they purchase. Someone is making a profit at these low crude oil prices.

Maybe its time for refineries to balance out supply with demand (if diesel demand is higher than diesel supply, while gasoline demand is lower than diesel supply). That would go a long way towards restoring a reasonable price balance between the two fuels - and would help out those in seasonably cold weather areas who depend on heating oil for the winter heating season.
 
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kjclow

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It's easier for the refineries to balance supply and demand if the demand is heavier for gasoline. It's much easier to crack the heavier diesel compound and force it to gasoline then it is to force lighter compounds to react into diesel fuel. yes, they can crack even heavier asphaltic compounds but that return is even smaller.
 
TornadoRed

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93celicaconv said:
With crude prices at unbelievably low prices now (just over $50/barrel, has sold in the past well over $100/barrel), I find it a bit difficult to believe refineries are losing money on the crude oil they purchase. Someone is making a profit at these low crude oil prices.

Maybe its time for refineries to balance out supply with demand (if diesel demand is higher than diesel supply, while gasoline demand is lower than diesel supply). That would go a long way towards restoring a reasonable price balance between the two fuels - and would help out those in seasonably cold weather areas who depend on heating oil for the winter heating season.
Click to expand...
I did not say that refineries are losing money; I said they are losing money on each gallon of GASOLINE they produce. Strong demand for distillate fuels has pushed the price of diesel sufficiently high so that the refineries make more from diesel than they lose from gasoline.

The refining process results in about two gallons of gasoline for each gallon of distillates. A typical modern refinery can be tweaked about 1% or 2% or 3% in either way, but the best that can be achieved is about a 1.9:1 ratio of gasoline to distillates.
 
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IndigoBlueWagon

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At the MA/NY border this afternoon (but in NY) diesel was $.96/gallon more than RUG at one truck stop. That's one of the biggest gaps I've seen.
 
crashtested

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$1.299/L this morning in Trail, BC and I almost ran my tank dry... oops!
 
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93celicaconv

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In the Green Bay WI area, RUG is about $2.159, D2 about $3.129.
 
rotarykid

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TornadoRed said:
Yep, RUG is an acronym and not a word.
Click to expand...

yeah, rug, pug, & mid are all common when speaking of fuel,.....

We all here know that D2 (regular diesel)....

But D1 (essentially is the same as J1 & kerosene just taxed for on-road use in specific applications), D1 is sold at vehicle pumps side by side with D2 in very cold parts as taxed on-road fuel for extreme cold temp use. D1 is more common in places like rural Montana, Idaho....ect, so you really need to be careful what you put in your tank in these places is labeled as diesel is actually all-weather D2 and not straight on road D1 which our cars are not designed to run on by itself...I speak from first-hand experience when this happened to me in that region in the 1990s in my old TD Jetta...
 
TornadoRed

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rotarykid said:
yeah, rug, pug, & mid are all common when speaking of fuel,.....
We all here know that D2 (regular diesel)....
But D1 (essentially is the same as J1 & kerosene just taxed for on-road use in specific applications), D1 is sold at vehicle pumps side by side with D2 in very cold parts as taxed on-road fuel for extreme cold temp use. D1 is more common in places like rural Montana, Idaho....ect
Click to expand...
At some stations around here -- a few, not many -- there are pumps where you can blend your own winter fuel. There are five buttons on the diesel pumps:

D1 100%
D1/D2 70/30
D1/D2 50/50
D2/D1 70/30
D2 100%

It's been a while so I don't know or recall the price differences between each blend.
 
romad

romad

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rotarykid said:
yeah, rug, pug, & mid are all common when
Click to expand...
Actually the “u” can be left out as it was inserted to differentiate unleaded gasoline from leaded gasoline when both were sold concurrently during the phaseout of lead. Since except for aviation use leaded gasoline is no longer available, the “u” is not needed anymore.
 
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joep1234

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In Indian Trail NC at the QT, $1.99 rug and $2.49 diesel.
 
romad

romad

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romad said:
I’m in Prescott, AZ for the Thanksgiving holiday and RG is $2.999 with diesel 12 - 20 cents higher. However I did see one Circle K market where diesel was listed at only 2 cents higher than RG. The only problem was the RG listed price was $5.00!

I’m guessing the store was new but had yet to activate their pumps so they used the price sign to temporarily “discourage” fuel stops.
Click to expand...
I’m back in Prescott for the holidays and the Circle K mentioned above has activated their pumps so the prices are in line with other stations in town.
 
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