Diesel cheaper than gasoline -- or is it?

[TornadoRed]

AAA says diesel still costs 6.5 cents more than regular unleaded gasoline in California. $2.603 (D)versus $2.538 (R)

But the DOE says diesel is 4.1 cents cheaper than regular. $2.432 (D) versus $2.473 (R).
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp

So who do we believe? I think AAA does a great job of collecting pump prices (using credit card info I think). But AAA does not weight their prices according to the volume of fuel sold. If one station is charging $2.40/gallon and the one across the street is charging $2.80/gallon, AAA will say the average is $2.60.... even though the low-priced station is selling a lot and the high-priced station doesn't sell any.

Nationally, the DOE website says diesel is still a couple cents higher than regular unleaded. I think by next week this will not be the case; diesel prices are coming down faster than gas prices.

 

[cmitchell]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Diesel is still $0.10 higher than regular here... which is just about where it stayed last summer. It just dropped to $2.63 from $2.69 this past weekend.

 

[Muggins]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Diesel is more expensive in Ontario, where I just paid 85.9 cents a litre or $3.87 cents per imperial gallon.

Now that the heating season is over, crude is $48 per barrel, I wonder what malicious lie the oil companies will use to justify their thievery?

 

[osesu96]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Diesel is still $0.10 higher than regular here... which is just about where it stayed last summer. It just dropped to $2.63 from $2.69 this past weekend.

Yesterday, went by the BP station near the Quakerbridge Mall (Rt1, Lawrenceville/Princeton, NJ area) and Diesel was 2.12 and 87 Octane was 2.15. So it looks like the prices are starting to come down a bit.

 

[svanmatr]

Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

I'm finding the cheapest diesel price to be $.09 lower than what AAA reports for my market in MT. Diesel has dropped from $2.499 to $2.139 over the last month.

 

[mparker326]

Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Just outside of Atlanta, diesel was the same price as reg unleaded - $1.99.

 

[Keir_Asher]

Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

$.20 difference here. 2.15 for DZL and $1.95 for gas.
I has dropped about $.15 in the last week and half.

 

[RobertB]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Checking in from Dallas: at the Flying J on I-20, Diesel is $2.039, RUL is $2.049. Similar price at the TA station, according to their billboard. However, across the street from the Flying J, the non-truckstop Shell station's price for Diesel is the same as for Premium Unleaded (somewhere around $2.30). I think the original poster is right -- you've got to have some sort of volume-weighted average if you're going to talk about diesel prices in a region.

 

[swartzentruber]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Diesel, cheaper than regular? Heck, I'd settle for cheaper than premium. The DOE site is useless for Chicago folks, since "Midwest" is so heavily weighted towards the truck routes. Sure I can get cheap diesel, if I want to drive over an hour to Indiana. $2.12 is a joke -- I haven't seen diesel around here for much less than $2.40 since last summer (if then).

At the closest (and usually) cheapest diesel station, diesel is $2.44, regular is $2.18. The summer price drop seems to have completely missed Chicago.

 

[TriangleTDI]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

I agree, why does IL have to hose us. I bought a TDI this past week to save money on fuel, not pay more.. . now all I see is diesel at usually 5 cents more than premium!!
***!

 

[ofhs93]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Triangle...just do a cost per mile calculation...your still doing better than any gasser most likely.

 

[Muggins]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

your still doing better than any gasser most likely.

Of course you're still doing better than a gasser, but the point is diesel should cost less because demand is less, it's cheaper to refine and the cost of crude has dropped.

Diesel is a rip-off now. That's all.

 

[tsingtao]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

In Phoenix, at Flying J on Sunday, diesel (cars and light duty vehicles) was 2.139, regular unleaded was 2.319 so diesel is considerably cheaper there. Most low volume stations are still charging as much for diesel as they do for premium unleaded though.

BTW, the Flying J website currently shows light duty vehicle (.08/gal less taxes than big rigs) at 2.099; reg unl is 2.279.

 

[mrGutWrench]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

In Phoenix, at Flying J (snip)

__. Yeah, the Flying J near Kings Dominion (I-95, north of Richmond) in Virginia is consistently the cheapest (and usually poorest quality) fuel that I get near to. The price there is $1.97 for diesel and perhaps a couple of cents less for RUL. The other truckstops near there are usually very close and a new Love's near Emporia has been trying to increase business with cheap fuel. Since VA has less tax than NC, I usually fill up there. I'd call the price of diesel and RUL about even here on the East Coast (at least where I buy it).

__. Historically, price of RUL goes up after schools close and vacation season begins, but who knows what is going to happen in this crazy year.
'

 

[RobertB]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Yeah, the Flying J near Kings Dominion (I-95, north of Richmond) in Virginia is consistently the cheapest (and usually poorest quality) fuel that I get near to. The price there is $1.97 for diesel and perhaps a couple of cents less for RUL.

Darn it, you spoiled my party! I just went to the Dallas Flying J, and I was about to brag about paying $1.999 a gallon for diesel (RUL 2.039). Spoilsport.

FWIW, I haven't noticed any negative effects from the Flying J fuel. It seems to be as clean as anything out there other than B100. By contrast, the rotgut diesel at one place in Kaufman (the station just northwest of the square) ran rough and left soot on my bumper. Do all Flying J's use Conoco fuels like the one here?

 

[flakrat]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

I'm in Birmingham, AL: Diesel ranges from $2.15 to over $2.20, most of the stations I pass have it for $2.199, while RUL is normally around $1.99 to $2.05.

So, here, diesel is in the mid grade to premium gas range.

I'm also miffed about the price given that it's cheaper to manufacture, lower demand, etc...

Still loving the TDI though. (Although I have to keep reminding myself at the pump to reach for the green pump and not the gasser hoses. I'd hate to put gas in accidently ).

 

[mrGutWrench]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

Yeah, the Flying J near Kings Dominion (I-95, north of Richmond) in Virginia is consistently the cheapest (and usually poorest quality) fuel that I get near to. The price there is $1.97 for diesel and perhaps a couple of cents less for RUL.

Darn it, you spoiled my party! I just went to the Dallas Flying J, and I was about to brag about paying $1.999 a gallon for diesel (RUL 2.039). Spoilsport.

__. Yeah, there's lots of competition right in that corridor and prices are lower there than anywhere else in VA (and NC's taxes are higher than VA's so that's automatically lower than any NC price -- I drive from southern NC to DC suburbs often so I get a good look every couple of weeks or so).

FWIW, I haven't noticed any negative effects from the Flying J fuel. It seems to be as clean as anything out there other than B100. By contrast, the rotgut diesel at one place in Kaufman (the station just northwest of the square) ran rough and left soot on my bumper. Do all Flying J's use Conoco fuels like the one here?

__. Flying J is not as bad as a tank that I bought at the Mobil just off I-95 near Pennington NJ in December. I could see smoke in the mirror just cruising at 58 and pressing the accelerator looked like I was spraying mosquitoes. My starts are usually a little rougher, idle rougher, and fuel economy lower with Flying J fuel -- but it's not a LOT worse than typical rotgut. We don't get much Conoco out here on the East Coast, but I'm not sure exactly what Flying J sells out here. There's the big refinery on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands that was founded by Hess, now mostly owned by Venezuela,that provides most of our diesel, but Flying J is big enough to have some pretty wide ranging contracts.
'

 

[TriangleTDI]

Re: Diesel cheapeer than gasoline -- or is it?

2 questions for IL folk, anyone know of cheaper diesel in the Chicago area? Is there only one station in Chicago with b20?
thanks

 

[Paul_L_Fisher]

Diesel $2.179, regular $2.169 at Flying J in Oak Creek, WI.

 

[Bob_Fout]

Diesel $2.179, regular $2.169 at Flying J in Oak Creek, WI.

Here in my neck of IL, diesel is STILL 15 cents more than PREMIUM, let alone regular. Course regular is 1.99, and premium is 2.159 or so.

 

[MilenP]

Good for all of you guys

.
Here in Chicago I'm putting premium diesel for $2.55, provided that the Citgo/Speedway diesel is around $2.40. Usually the diesel is either at or above the premium gasoline price

 

[PDJetta]

I'm Ticked. At the Hess I go to today:

Reg. UL $1.09/gal.
Mid-grade UL $1.19/gal.
Premium UL $1.29/gal.
Diesel $2.35/gal.

***. I thought diesel was supposed to fall in price and gas go up when it got warm out. Diesel has been 2.35 at hess for months and gas prices have been falling the last few weeks.

--Nate

 

[PDJetta]

opps, brain fart. $2.09, 2.19, 2.29 for the gas grades/per gallon.

--Nate

 

[Stirer]

Just payed 1.98 for Flying J diesel in KC MO

 

[TriangleTDI]

Anyone know why prices are/seem so much higher in the Chicago/IL areas? Is it supply/demand, higher taxes, etc?

 

[Bob_Fout]

Anyone know why prices are/seem so much higher in the Chicago/IL areas? Is it supply/demand, higher taxes, etc?

Not sure... diesel is still 15 cents more expensive than premium here!

 

[TornadoRed]

A week ago I observed that, at the lowest-price stations, diesel was about 4 cents/gallon cheaper than ULR.

But over this weekend, it appears that the spread has opened to about 6 cents/gallon. Not everywhere -- many stations have apparently decided to leave their diesel prices 10 or even 20 cents/gallon above ULR. But those stations only count for the AAA averages, they don't sell much volume, and they don't get my business.

I paid $2.319 on Saturday, at a station where ULR was $2.379. This is at a high-volume station that could sell twice as much fuel if they had twice as many pumps -- they are that busy. (I-805 & University)

 

[RobertB]

Strange pricing between Hillsboro and Austin, TX this weekend. The best price on Diesel appeared to be south of Waco, where prices dipped to the $1.95 range, with RUL at the same price or just a hair more. But south of Austin, RUL dropped to $1.899 -- while Diesel stayed at $2.05.

I only went as far as San Marcos, so perhaps I didn't make it to the big truck stops. But the lesson I take from the prices I saw is that RUL is indeed more volatile than Diesel.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the B20 at Carl's Corner, north of Hillsboro, is $2.109. The comments left in Carl's comment book indicate that the truckers love the stuff -- they actually get better mileage because their big engines run cooler on the Biodiesel mix. One entry noted an improvement from 6 mpg to 8 mpg. Ouch.

 

[TriangleTDI]

I found a Petro, BP and Citgo which all carry diesel. The perto also has b10. This is in Rochelle, IL. The prices are 2.15 for dino and 2.13 for the b10. Lots of truckers in all 3 stations .. but how do I determine which station to fill up at?

 

[TornadoRed]

I found a Petro, BP and Citgo which all carry diesel. The Petro also has b10. This is in Rochelle, IL. The prices are 2.15 for dino and 2.13 for the b10. Lots of truckers in all 3 stations .. but how do I determine which station to fill up at?

I'd go with the B10 since it's cheaper, and cheaper IS better. And you can probably get by without a fuel additive since the biodiesel already improves the lubricity.