They aren't insanely high. Everyone's paying equally. Truck drivers and the
railroads pass their cost on equally. So its the same for them. The marginal
truckers already went under when it went to $1.50 then $2. What remains can
operate at these prices.  The price of everything is going up more because
of the weakened dollar then diesel cost. The national debt and rational
investors people saying, How are Americans going to pay that down. Then the
dollar gets devalued and prices go up. There's trouble with the new diesel
fuel deliveries. People knew about it coming for years. Threes trouble in
Iraq. There's trouble everywhere. Its going up another 20% real soon. $4 in
The US may hold steady for quite some time. If we can quit invading
everywhere without plundering the countries for our expenses.

Stop bitching like a little girl. In Europe diesel is now close to $7 a
gallon.

Its certainly cheaper ot make diesel compared to gasoline of any grade.  At
least according to a local educational TV channel I recently viewed a
program about similar.  If true, its either supply/demand thing, or
someone's or someones' making a fortune for no apparent reason than control
of the market.  Or both, the former an interim excuse for the latter.

   Describe insanely high.  Do you mean like the over 1,000,000,000 the CEO
of Exxon got for retirement?

   Do you mean in the last few weeks, months years?  In what part of the
world?  Compared to gasoline or what?

   Have you noticed that wars always increase the price of oil.

   You should be seeing a very small increase in the price of diesel in the
US do to the change over to the newer clean ULSD fuels that are now coming
on line.

PH:

I know what you mean.  I remember when diesel hit 99 cents a gallon and
all the independent truckers went on strike and parked their trucks in
protest.  Now we don't hear a thing at 3 times that price.  Maybe we
have all been brainwashed by the news media into expecting/accepting
higher prices just because of world events?  Crude oil prices certainly
play a major role in fuel pricing, but there are profit yield
activities going on the really piss me off.  Like buying gas at $2.95
one afternoon, and the next day it is $2.83!  And then the next morning
it is $3.05!  We use to see prices barely move weeks at a time!
Profiteering pure and simple.  Until we find an alternative, it will
continue because we love our cars.  Go read the book, "Who Killed the
Electric Car".  Very telling.

TEMiller

It's called greed. Technically, diesel should be cheaper because the process
of preparing it is less extensive.

As far as truck drivers not complaining, that seems to be the pattern these
days. Very few have the gumption to publicly speak up on any issue.

Thanks guys for all your answers to the topic. They were all very
credible and insightful. I even enjoyed the one about bitching about the
situation.(Lol)  It does give us something to think about.
Thanks again,
PH

Fuel prices in general are high now, but didn't (like back in the 70's
and early 80's) diesel used to be roughly the same price as regular and
get you better mileage? Now it seems to track more with premium.

Doesn't seem like the bang/buck is as good anymore vs. regular gas.

...Sean.

The short answer is:  The end user price of diesel fuel in the USA is
relatively cheap when compared  to world market prices.  But in saying this,
the price of Diesel fuel as with ANY commodity  is a function of the sum of
its cost factors.   Among these factors are:  Supply,  Refining capability,
Transportation costs, Federal regulation, Federal / State / Local Taxes.
In the EU, there are few competitive  markets for petroleum products.  Most
countries have nationalized their petroleum industry and can charge what
they want or subsidize the cost.

Recently, North Slope Oil has been curtailed due to a decade long practice
by British Petroleum to zero or near zero maintenance on the infrastructure.
Running compressor turbines until it fails.  Flow control valves are not
preventatively replaced and under this philosophy fail and tend to fail
catastrophically.   So now,  Prudhoe Bay supplied crude is flowing at a
trickle of what it was prior to the shutdown and presently, this gives rise
to a supply deficit issue.  Weather in the Gulf of Mexico with Hurricane
Katrina brought about supply, transportation, and refining capability
issues, so prices get  squeezed upward there.  As it relates to supply, you
now have the nations of India and China,  going out and purchasing refined
fuel as well as crude oil to fire the engines of their respective economies.
So, its not  just the USA looking for raw crude and refined product, but
those countries as well.

New Federal / EPA regulations mandating the blending of diesel fuel to more
closely match  the formulation of what is produced in the EU are now
impacting costs.  USA Diesel #2, has  a higher sulfur content and is
unfriendly to the newer generations of Diesels soon to come  to market in
the next 2 to 4 years.  Transportations costs are relatively minor due to
our US Interstate Highway system which allows for a cheaper cost of  moving
goods and services from point A to point B than it is for people in the EU.
Of course, the exception being for remote places in rural  areas especially
remote villages in Alaska.

As it relates to taxes, it would not surprise me to hear that out of each
gallon of diesel fuel or gasoline, that the combined take of Federal / State
/ Local taxes  almost,  if not exceeds,  at least 1 dollar per gallon.  I
can only imagine what the taxes are in the countries of the  EU or Canada.
If you are from the UK / EU or Canada, please let us know how much of
what you pay for the price per gallon is eaten up by taxes.  This would be
fascinating to  know.

I don¹t know if Bio-diesel is going to solve anything either in the short or
the long term  view.  Its probably going to be the proverbial "drop in the
bucket".

I have dealt with the spike rises in fuel costs to a curtailment of
activity.  I ask myself twice, Is this run to the market necessary or of
convenience.  If convenience, I make a note of what I need in order to
combine the times when I do run out, that I make a 1 time loop and catch
every thing that I need or that I leave early for work and plan a route that
takes where I need to shop that is on the way to work.  Since March, I have
combined going to work on the mass transit bus system that allows me to take
a bicycle along and ride the bike home when buses are not running.  By doing
this, I saved the consumption of 15 gals of gas per week @ near 2.90 US$ per
gallon cost.  I am currently looking at apartments near where I work so that
I only have a 10 or 15 minute walk one way.


Just my 2 cents / 2 pence / 2 dinars worth

Terrence