Having been driving through when the big fuel price spikes occurred (since the late 1960's) I have developed my own theory of why they happen. The major price spikes all occurred as a result of our Federal government imposing strict new rules on vehicle emissions. I'm sure that these price increases were unintentional , and that cleaner air is more important than a healthy economy , but Congress and the EPA know what is good for us.

I have been theorizing that the current high diesel prices are due to the imposition of Ultra-Low Sulfer Diesel. It appears that most distributors have abandoned Low Sulfer Diesel as an on-highway fuel. I don't really blame them for not wanting to invest in an extra set of tanks, pumps, etc., especially when the EPA cynically has enacted rules to make using Low Sulfer Diesel illegal for highway use fairly soon.

So the government has forced most of us to use a fuel our engines were not designed for and which seems to get poorer fuel economy. Shades of the imposition of unleaded gasoline in the dim past!

To make ULSD the refineries must either run the product through a sulfer-cleaning process several more times than LSD, or add more (and expensive) equipment to the process. So if you are in the Diesel refining business, you have two choices: (1) Make ULSD by incurring the added costs and production bottlenecks, or (2) Continue to make either High Sulfer Diesel or Low Sulfer Diesel using your existing equipment and sell it to someone who doesn't have to submit to the EPA. I suspected that the refineries were following option (2), and exporting HSD and LSD, but until lately I had not seen any confirmation of this.

I recently found the following article at Forbes Online the confirmed my suspicions. America's Oil Export Problem (Yes, Export) - Forbes.com This level of exports has produced an artificial shortage of on-highway diesel in the United States, and explains why diesel is more expensive than the ULSD producion expenses should justify. I really don't blame these refineries for taking the easy way out. They can surely make more by exporting, as opposed to making huge investments in ULSD process equipment that would take years to pay off, but it has had disasterous effects on our nation's economy.

We are now entering the severe recesson that always follows a major change in motor fuel standards. The pattern is clear. It will take years for the manufacturers to change their products to equal or come near the performance and economy they provided prior to this change. Our economy will suffer for this, but Americans always overcome these challenges. I just wish our Government would care about our economic well-being as much as it cares about those who breathe diluted diesel exhaust.

Sorry to be so long-winded. I just wanted to get the word out about what really is happening.

Jock

 

That pisses me off. I am sure they will put a biodiesel requirement on diesel here shortly and really screw up our price of diesel and screw up our engines.

I hate the government.

 

Yous need to go the biodiesel forum ta learn somethin!!! Ur not even close to being near the ballpark.....

 

I wish I could fill up with some biodiesel localy, not from veggie oil but a 10-20% mix. A third party group on lubricants did tests on lubricity of diesel fuel treatments on diesel fuel and found the number one best lubricant to be 20% biodiesel. The blend lubricated better than any over the counter additive.

The ULSD15 or whatever you call it has very poor lubricity.

BTW, they have already put a 2% minumal biodiesel standard here in MN for all diesel fuel sold.

 

We have been exporting more diesel for years. It isn't a new thing, the only new thing that has occured is that we(the world) have actually become globalized to the point that more people are using that diesel. Plus we have a war going on etc. This isn't a new thing, we just have had more situations going on that have compounded the problem. Add that to the issue that most Americans(atleast 51% and/or more) have a very dim view of diesel vehicles, right or wrong the view is there, and thus you have quite a few people that actually don't care about the higher price of diesel.

The reason for higher diesel prices is far more reaching then just the few that you have mentioned. They are valid, but they aren't all of the reasons. Exact percentages no one knows for sure which one hits diesel prices the hardest etc. It's just not as clear cut as everyone likes to make out on these boards. Everyone likes to nail it down to one or two reasons and sometimes you just can't do that(actually alot more times then just sometimes).

The best thing(in my mind and this is just my opinion) is to have a "mixed-bag" of energy, to were if something that happens to one input it doesn't cripple everything. I don't care if you believe in man-made global warming or not, to me that is irrelevant, if it helps it out fine if not fine, but it still is better to have a various energy inputs instead of one major source that makes this country come to a grinding halt when something happens to the supply line of that source(or any other incident that causes supply issues).

 

Very well said.