Holiday weekend: Gas Prices Surge

[Pavel + 384]

With the holiday weekend getting underway, gas prices are climbing toward the three dollar mark for the first time in four years. Regular gas is going for an average of $2.96 a gallon. Drivers fueling up in New Jersey are paying just under $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded. In California and Hawaii, gas prices are approaching $3.70 a gallon, nearly a dollar higher than the national average. 41.5M of Americans will travel for Memorial Day  Weekend....So, let's start 

 

[Petar + 76]

We past three bucks a gallon in Chicago. The highest I saw yesterday was $3.45.

[damirUSBiH + 327]

Of course. Now is the busiest driving season and until September - Americans will pay an extra $200 dollars on gas compared to last year..Nice.

[ThunderBlade + 231]

More money for Exxon and a friends

[rainman + 263]

Gas prices are at 3.20 in Mi. In the past few months gas prices have went up .50 cents where I live...everything is more expensive.

[pinto + 293]

Gas prices are soaring. Interest rates going up..

[jpZelabal + 63]

[Pavel + 384]

If gas prices go higher I think gonna have to dust off my good ole RipStik.

 

[Petar + 76]

Might be late to work at Tuesday because I'm riding my bike ... To whoever decided to raise gas prices to $3.15 a gallon right as summer is starting

[Rodent + 1,424]

1 hour ago, Petar said:

Might be late to work at Tuesday because I'm riding my bike ... To whoever decided to raise gas prices to $3.15 a gallon right as summer is starting

That's how it works. Higher prices, lower demand. Lower demand, lower prices. Lower prices, increased demand. Increased demand, increased prices. And on and on the cycle continues. Unless you live in rural America, in which case riding a bike or rip stick isn't really an option. In fact, I have spent over $120 on gasoline this week just on gas for the trash pump that i have in my yard/driveway which was totally under feet of water. That's not even including the gas for the vehicles. The higher gas prices couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time. Such is life. 

Demand for holiday weekend is large! Every holiday weekend sees a spike in gas prices.

[Bhimsen Pachawry + 72]

Why is diesel more expensive in USA than Motor spirit (petrol/gasoline)?

 

Diesel is more easier to make and doesn't waste too much of the crude oil in the form of petcoke, asphalt etc. The composition of crude oil is close to diesel and hence it is easier to make diesel during refining. Gasoline on the other hand needs breaking down of the denser molecules of crude oil by high temperature heating and hence leave behind residue.

It is funny that despite USA being heavy on cars and not two wheelers, the consumption of gasoline is much higher than diesel

[Rodent + 1,424]

4 hours ago, Bhimsen Pachawry said:

Why is diesel more expensive in USA than Motor spirit (petrol/gasoline)?

 

Diesel is more easier to make and doesn't waste too much of the crude oil in the form of petcoke, asphalt etc. The composition of crude oil is close to diesel and hence it is easier to make diesel during refining. Gasoline on the other hand needs breaking down of the denser molecules of crude oil by high temperature heating and hence leave behind residue.

It is funny that despite USA being heavy on cars and not two wheelers, the consumption of gasoline is much higher than diesel

I don't know the full answer to your question, but for starters, federal taxes are more for diesel than it is for regular gasoline. Also, in the US (not sure what is burning outside the US) the diesel is ultra low sulfur diesel, which is more costly. Also, I think there is a fuel oil/diesel demand correlation where in the winter the demand for one pushes up the price for the other.

I'm sure there are more ins and outs as to why diesel is more expensive here. Very few cars run on diesel in the US. 

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

2 hours ago, Rodent said:

I'm sure there are more ins and outs as to why diesel is more expensive here. Very few cars run on diesel in the US. 

If I were to hazard a guess, it is competition with jet fuel. Kerosene is classified as No. 1 diesel, heating oil is same as No. 2 diesel  (except they put that red dye in there to keep the truckers from running heating oil in their trucks.  Get caught and the fine is a dollar a gallon.).

The US is the world's largest market for air travel, so it has this voracious appetite for jetfuel.  Also, the US military is a gigantic consumer of middle distillates, mostly jet fuel and diesel. You don't get those ratios in the rest of the world.  Cheers.

[Guillaume Albasini + 851]

 

1 hour ago, Jan van Eck said:

If I were to hazard a guess, it is competition with jet fuel. Kerosene is classified as No. 1 diesel, heating oil is same as No. 2 diesel  (except they put that red dye in there to keep the truckers from running heating oil in their trucks.  Get caught and the fine is a dollar a gallon.).

The US is the world's largest market for air travel, so it has this voracious appetite for jetfuel.  Also, the US military is a gigantic consumer of middle distillates, mostly jet fuel and diesel. You don't get those ratios in the rest of the world.  Cheers.

I think you are right for the US.

Depending of the demand for other uses diesel is more or less promoted as a car fuel. In some countries gasoline is cheaper than diesel and in others diesel is cheaper than gasoline.

In France more than 60% of the cars run on diesel today but in 1980 it was less than 5%. The main reason of this shift from gasoine to diesel was... the development of nuclear energy !  With rising oil prices and cheap nuclear électricity many French shifted from heating oil to electric heating causing an oversupply in heating oil.  The government decided to promote diesel with lower taxes than gasoline to open a new marked for the heating oil in oversupply generating this shift from gasoline to diesel.

 

But today, after the Dieselgate, diesel is in freefall in Europe. Are we on the verge of a new diesel oversupply?.. No, wait... The IMO 2020 reg could help to create a new demand for diesel in bunkering !