Never having owned a diesel before, and now having a 6.7L F350 on order, I'm paying attention to fuel prices. There doesn't seem to be any consistency between fluctuating gas prices proportionately moving the cost of diesel, unless I'm missing something. In other words, a month ago, in my area, I was seeing a $0.40 to $0.60 higher cost per gallon of diesel vs regular. Today, at a gas station nearby, I see that regular is $2.28 and Diesel is $2.32. Is diesel less prone to the fluctuations you see on gas? I don't see any themes here on what to expect...

 

Diesel near me in SoCal doesnt fluctuate much at all. I think its because I'm in a major shipping corridor with the Long Beach port here and major warehouses like Amazon's 2 million square foot behemoth. Lots of trucks, lots of demand, but even more supply. Diesel is almost always cheaper than gas here. It was crazy a few years ago when gas was almost $5/gal and diesel was still only $3.50ish. Now diesel hovers around 5-10% cheaper than gas.

 

diesel isnt in as high of a demand as it is for Gas (also depends on the area as well) simply because their are more Gas engines running around than diesel.. which is part of what plays into the prices at the pump.. the other issue is that the price to mfg either of them hasnt really changed over the years. Diesel is far less refined than gasoline is... but both have their own cocktail of additives to them.

whats really determining prices of the fuel in addition to the supply vs demand is the owner the business location.. for instance if you had 10 fuel stations in an area and 6 of them carried diesel. those 6 stations are going to compete with each other for price. (exception to that is when you get someone that decides they want brand specific fuel. like shell over exxon or similar which some stations count on that)..

but if you had 10 stations and only 1 carries diesel.. that 1 station can pretty much charge you whatever they want since theyre the only game in town figuring your stuck with going to them...

 

My experience has been similar. Diesel stays pretty close to $2.20, while gas has ranged about $1.80 to $2.20.

 

...or...you live in Indiana where they just instituted an additional excise tax on all fuels. 10 cents for gas and 20 cents for diesel per gallon. Then you have the effen gas station owners that get on the bandwagon and raise it even higher. I was paying $2.39/gal of diesel, then the excise tax went into effect on 7/1 (remember only 20 cents higher/gal), well the owner of the station (he owns several near me) raised the price of diesel to $2.89/gal. The part that really gets me going is that the news had just announced one of the cheapest summers for fuel!

Sorry...totally hijacked this thread.

 

NE Ohio here... $2.11/gal unleaded, $2.49/gal diesel...

 

Summertime Blend for Gasoline, EPA Mandate.

 

Yeah, I left out that I'm Florida. Just looked on the GasBuddy app for my area... averages are Regular $2.15, Diesel $2.28

 

Fuel prices are also a factor of where the refineries are located. We have a major gas line explosion here in AL last year and it really did not affect us locally because the line was a major feed for the mid-Atlantic and East Coast states.
Hurricane hitting TX a few years back caused a "run" on gas locally but it only lasted 2 or 3 days.
Fuel pricing depends on several factors........

 

Just topped off the diesel tank on my Platinum this morning at $2.05 per gallon.

 

State taxation and demand are the biggest drivers. A state that sees a lot of truck traffic will generally tax more because they want to get funds to offset the highway damage class 6-7-8 trucks cause. Diesel is more competitive along truck routes - the station owners know a big rig is more likely to pull in from an interstate exit and will sell diesel for a more competitive price than a station in a suburb.

Diesel is also the same base stock as home heating oil. In the fall, refineries begin to produce more HHO for winter needs and diesel thus rises due to less available refinery capacity.

Here in northwest NJ, diesel is very close to regular unleaded in the summer (gasoline goes up for the "summer driving season"), and usually somewhere between midgrade and premium in winter. There are only two stations in my town, right at the interstate off-ramp, across the street from each other. One name brand and one convenience store brand - they are usually within pennies of each other - the name-brand station is the higher one thanks to the name recognition and expectation of better fuel quality. Diesel right now is 4 cents above regular at the convenience store and about 8 cents more than reg at the name-brand. In winter, diesel will probably be 25-30 cents more than regular.

 

Gas here is 2.13 Diesel is 2.18 at most places, but I get it at Buc-ee's near me for 1.99

 

That's interesting. I guess where you live does play a big factor. In my area of Massachusetts/Vermont/CT I have not seen diesel cheaper than gas in about 7-8 years.

 

My local fuel station is selling diesel for 2.29 and gas for 2.39.. while on vacation at myrtle beach I was able to find it for 2.12

 

On my recent almost 6K mile trip, I saw diesel prices from $1.99 to $2.85/gal.

The 1.99 was between Oklahoma and Texas on I-40. The 2.85 was in a touristy area; Rte89 just south of Zion NP.

Gas was always ~.10 to .15/gal cheaper than the diesel.