Sound Off on Current Diesel Price

[dubStrom]

$2.799 on 3/6/1012, and past the station last night, NO change in price all week.

My average fuel cost for 33,000 miles is 0.098 cents per mile (below 10 cents per mile). Hard to complain about, especially considering I use that torque daily!

 

[need4speed]

The price of fuel, as denominated in dollars, is going up because the value of those dollars is going down.

No. Not really related.
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/oil-and-weak-dollar

Price of oil is rising, because producers can't keep up with demand. The concept of peak-oil need not be explained to members of THIS group. Demand is rising because the economy is heating up. In a sense, this *IS* inflation. But not effectively related to the value of the dollar.

This was one of the predicted (as-in: I told you so. . .) scenarios of peak-oil: Production would fail to rise to meet demand, no matter how much we drill-baby-drill, and rising prices would slam the economy. (like in 2008). Then demand would head back south for a while, and when the economy stumbles back onto it's feet, it would bump it's head back into the oil-production ceiling again. Wash-rinse-repeat, until the long tail of the graph starts to taper off. The winners? Very few "haves" at the top of the food-chain. (sitting on oil-reserves, that are not taken forcibly from them). The losers? Anyone underneath them with anything to lose. The middlemen, etc. The rest of the world's very-poor? Nothing really changes for them.

So, when you refer to "oil companies", can you please begin to differentiate between crude oil producers and refiners?

. . . probably a good idea, but probably asking too much for this discussion.

 

[darrelld]

Racetrac in Plano, Tx $3.79 RUG, $3.92 D2

 

[dubStrom]

supply, demand, SPECULATION

Wait a minute, I thought we decided long ago that although supply and demand sets the ground price, speculators drive the market up artificially (or down, but mostly up!). It is those "middlemen" that can cause unusual rises in fuel prices, isn't it? Bomb goes off in middle east...or some crazy person kills a bunch of civilians...tensions rise, and speculators drive the price up!

AND, by the way, we export LOTs of Diesel Southward...where the Amaroks and other models are made of that elusive material known in the US as unobtainium.

 

[lovemybug]

Rug and D2 have reached the parity level around here. They are either the same price or within a nickel or less of being the same price. Both are currently at about the $3.99 level.

 

[Ted Hurst]

Here is the price of RUG is $3.79 and D2 is $4.05 at the local BP station. RUG came close to D2 a week ago but the D2 price just moves slower. I can live with a 6.8% price premium. If we bought it by the pound diesel would be about the same price.

 

[rotarykid]

Gas and diesel are holding about the same this week as last, D2 was $3.699-3.77 and RUG was $3.279-3.399 in south west metro Denver last night.

 

[Derrel H Green]

Fuel Price in So Cal

$2.799 on 3/6/1012, and past the station last night, NO change in price all week.
My average fuel cost for 33,000 miles is 0.098 cents per mile (below 10 cents per mile). Hard to complain about, especially considering I use that torque daily!

A typo for sure my friend. You meant $3.779 did you not?

Bought top quality fuel Monday evening at the Ontario Mills Maul Union 76 station for $4.359.
The lowest priced good quality fuel I know of anywhere here in Southern California.

For our CDI, that figures out to $0.122 per mile, getting 35.651 mpg for that last tank.
Not bad for a two ton machine.



Derrel

 

[Tom Servo]

I filled up for $3.899 at an Exxon in Mobile, AL. That's the cheapest I've seen around. A few stations are at that price point but most are now over $4/gal. Gas is still much cheaper, anywhere from $3.599-3.749.

 

[rotarykid]

A price spike has finally showed up in Denver this week. I was getting RUG yesterday afternoon and watched the price spike up $0.10 a gal while I was pumping. D2 went up to $0.21 more a gal at the same time. When I pulled in RUG was $3.399 and D2 was $3.839. The sign was changed while I was pumping to $4.049 for D2 and RUG changed to $3.499, my pump changed when I finished pumping. Pumps that were $3.359 for RUG in the morning were $3.469 in the afternoon.

I saw an electronic sign at a Shell station change while I driving by from $3.419 to $3.499 for RUG and D2 went from $3.849 to $4.049 on south US 85 south of I-25.

 

[dubStrom]

Sunday, March 18th. Kansas City 'burb (Lees Summit)

3.899 per gallon -went up ~2% since last fillup (so did gasoline).


Myth: Diesel costs a lot more than gasoline - it is 6% higher today (3.669 RUG, and 3.899 diesel)

6% higher than RUG, but 20% minimum fuel economy advantage. Fuelly shows less than 10 cents per mile, in life of vehicle. It is funny-even last week, I had an educated and intelligent person say to me, "But diesel costs a lot more, doesn't it?"

Go figure

NO, I mean it literally... GO FIGURE!

 

[dieselherb1]

The oil companies do not want Americans using diesel rather than gas(more profit) 70% of vehicles in Europe are diesel. Governments in Europe incourage use of diesel, also diesel is cheaper than gas in Europe. Keystone pipeline is for exporting oil not for Americans!

 

[itchytweed]

Some stations are back upside down here west of Milwaukee. That won't last long and D2 will be more expensive than RUG.

 

[TornadoRed]

The oil companies do not want Americans using diesel rather than gas(more profit) 70% of vehicles in Europe are diesel. Governments in Europe incourage use of diesel, also diesel is cheaper than gas in Europe. Keystone pipeline is for exporting oil not for Americans!

Oil refining companies sell gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and a number of other products that they make from each barrel of oil. Naturally they want to sell all these products, so they want to sell diesel to the consumers of diesel.

Also, the reason a number of refineries have closed in the Mid-Atlantic states is because of the low price of gasoline; they were making profits from the heating oil and diesel, but losing money on each gallon of gasoline they sold.

The Keystone XL pipeline's purpose is to get Canadian crude oil to the refineries in Texas that can turn it into products, and which can then be sent onward to wherever these products are needed. I am not sure if crude from North Dakota will also flow through this pipeline. At any rate, its purpose is for exporting oil from Canada to the United States.

To summarize, Herb, everything you wrote is wrong. There is no conspiracy among oil companies against diesel-powered vehicles. Gasoline is not more profitable than diesel. And there are many excellent reasons to build the Keystone XL pipeline right now, and no reasons not to.

 

[need4speed]

Wait a minute, I thought we decided long ago that although supply and demand sets the ground price, speculators drive the market up artificially (or down, but mostly up!). It is those "middlemen" that can cause unusual rises in fuel prices, isn't it? Bomb goes off in middle east...or some crazy person kills a bunch of civilians...tensions rise, and speculators drive the price up!.

I think that in the short term, yeah, speculators can call the shots on peaks and valleys and they have access to cheap capital (which we consumers do not, because we are not banks), so they can generally use privileged information to buy low, constrain the supply and sell high. But long term, someone else is going to eventually eat THEIR lunch.

I heard an interesting theory about Keystone XL this weekend. That because of the refineries in the mountain states, their prices are lower, but because that gasoline must be trucked to the west coast, the west coast prices are higher. Keystone will end up shutting down those refineries; and gasoline will be trucked-up to the mountain states from the gulf, so by that time, they'll be paying for gas, what California is paying.

The companies want to be able to have a single point to refine, near the ocean, so they can ship the products to the Chinese.

 

[TornadoRed]

I think that in the short term, yeah, speculators can call the shots on peaks and valleys and they have access to cheap capital (which we consumers do not, because we are not banks), so they can generally use privileged information to buy low, constrain the supply and sell high. But long term, someone else is going to eventually eat THEIR lunch.

There are long speculators and short speculators, just as there are long hedgers and short hedgers. There's no reason to think speculators create peaks and valleys, and plenty of reasons to think that having more speculators in the market serves to smooth out price fluctuations

I heard an interesting theory about Keystone XL this weekend. That because of the refineries in the mountain states, their prices are lower, but because that gasoline must be trucked to the west coast, the west coast prices are higher. Keystone will end up shutting down those refineries; and gasoline will be trucked-up to the mountain states from the gulf, so by that time, they'll be paying for gas, what California is paying.

I think this theory is mostly BS. I doubt that any fuel is trucked from refineries in Utah and Wyoming to the west coast, unless there is some kind of supply disruption in California or the Pacific Northwest.

The new oilfields in North Dakota and eastern Montana are creating new distribution patterns, as the region used to be an importer of oil and now it's an exporter. I've given no thought to how this might affect places like Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah; but I think it would make sense to build more pipelines so they can gain access to this cheaper oil.

The companies want to be able to have a single point to refine, near the ocean, so they can ship the products to the Chinese.

Which companies are these? Can you name any of them, or even one?

And, why would refined products from the Gulf of Mexico be exported to China? Wouldn't it make more sense to build a pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia and export from there to China?

 

[Tom Servo]

Diesel continues its steady climb to stay above premium here. Prices in my part of Baldwin Country range from $3.999-4.159. Diesel is on par with premium at Shell stations but that's about it, and that's only because Shell is outrageously high for mid and premium.

I've been over to Mobile twice in the last week and was lucky enough to find it for $3.899 and $3.879, at two different Exxon stations. The second one was a brand new Purple Cow Exxon on Dawes Road out in the country. RUG there was $3.559.

 

[donDavide]

Hey TR, ask the 8pm'r . Like I said before he is blaming Big oil for exporting. I think he is kind wrong

 

[TornadoRed]

Need4speed, earlier you wrote:

Price of oil is rising, because producers can't keep up with demand. The concept of peak-oil need not be explained to members of THIS group. Demand is rising because the economy is heating up. In a sense, this *IS* inflation. But not effectively related to the value of the dollar.

I should have pointed out at the time that, to quote Milton Friedman, "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon."

Inflation has nothing to do with fluctuations in the price of any particular product or commodity. It has nothing to do with rising demand for a product, or declining production of something else; inflation is a change in the overall price level, and is caused by too many dollars chasing too few goods. (dollars or any other unit of currency)

The Federal Reserve Bank is not the only culprit in this -- the European Central Bank (ECB) is also printing Euros as fast as it can. So do not expect the price of crude oil to decline, whether it is priced in dollars or Euros.

 

[lovemybug]

Currently, D2 is significantly lower than RUG in the area. RUG is currently ranging from $4.15-4.19, while D2 ranges from $3.99-4.09 at most stations.

 

[NachtRitter]

Just filled up with B20 at $4.44/g. RUG: $4.60/g, MUG: $4.70/g, SUG: $4.80/g

 

[sqhschief]

ULSD at Kangaroo in Eastern TN was $3.89/gallon yesterday.

 

[Vin63]

My usual Shell station on the way to work went from $4.39 to $4.43 yesterday.

 

[jimnms]

I went to IL last week. I filled up before leaving for $3.82/gal, and watched the prices go up the farther North I went. On the way home I was watching the signs at the truck stops ranging from $4.05 to $4.20. I kept heading south until the fuel light came on and stopped somewhere in AR. I didn't see any signs before taking the exit to fill up, but the price there was $3.99. After leaving, the prices at the next exits were $4.05 to $4.11. The price when I got back home was still $3.82.

 

[donDavide]

I saw it drop at a Citgo I drive by all of the time, from $4,13 to $4.09. I still pay $3.999 for B5.

 

[lovemybug]

Filled up today at one of the few stations that was still at $3.99 for diesel. Most places around have diesel posted in the $4.05-4.09 range. Gas jumped up to $4.19-4.25.

 

[Tom Servo]

Diesel still holding steady at the $4 mark here in Baldwin County. Gas is up to $3.759 just in time for all the spring breakers to fill up.

This is another one of those times where the price spread between gas grades has really widened. Everyone in my area has one price for RUG but for plus and premium, it's the wild west:

RUG: $3.759 at all stations
PLUS: $3.859-$4.059
PREM: $3.95-$4.459
D2: $3.99-$4.159

So no matter where you go, you're gonna pay $3.759 for regular. But if you need premium (as the other car I drive does) the spread is a whopping 50 cents!

 

[kjclow]

Filled up the Passat this morning for $3.62 for rug in Tega cay, SC. Diesel was $3.99. Passed the BP station in NC on my way to work and D2 was $4.15 and rug was $3.79.

 

[donDavide]

6.77 gallons of B5 today @$3.999gl

 

[Art van Law]

Rojo rt 1 Norwood, MA
D2 4.099
RUG 3.759