Actually they can by cracking the diesel and other leftovers to produce more gasoline.

If you dig deep into Exxon's 2006 year end report, which is available online, you will find that their average price to buy new reserves was,,, get this,,, 50 CENTS a barrel!

We export diesel, and I believe we do import it. I do not, by any means, claim to be an expert on this. But I have made some effort to read whatever material I can find, and listen to what experts have to say about it.

And what I was saying about supply/demand IN the US has nothing to do with what we import or export. IN the US, the demand for diesel has grown IIRC about five times as much as the demand for gasoline in the past year ... but the ratio of gas-to-distillate produced per barrel crude oil in the US has NOT changed in the past year. So in the US (regardless of what the rest of the world is doing, which DOES matter, BTW), the demand for diesel is proportionately growing much faster than the demand for gas ... but we aren't producing any more of it. A price increase makes a ton of sense based on that alone. AND, it also goes to follow that that will change ... i.e., refineries will lean toward a higher percentage of diesel because it will be more profitable. So neither gas nor diesel prices will drop (duh) but the gap will narrow.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

That was my initial thought, until I looked up the numbers. I'll dig it up for you, but the demand for diesel in the U.S. has grown at a much faster rate than the demand for gasoline. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with trucking/transportation and how much has to do with passenger cars, but for whatever reason, the fuel itself isn't hitting any lull in sales. And automakers continue to pursue diesel technology ... they don't seem afraid of high diesel prices, because I think they understand (as best as possible) where the next 10 years are going to take fuel prices. The hardest thing for diesel passenger cars in this country is, by far, the emissions issues. *&%&* California ...

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

The vast majority of what the U.S. imports is crude oil that is refined within the U.S. Some gasoline and diesel is imported and exported, but that is a relatively small amount. I believe the current price difference has more to do with U.S. refining capacity and the use of #2 oil for other non-transportation applications. Although refineries can adjust their product streams, it's not something they can do very quickly.

Assuming your numbers are correct Bhodi, what percent of total does 5% faster growth than gasoline represent? .5% of fuel used? Less? I'm guessing it's a very small number compared to the total use of diesel and heating oil.

This supply and demand and gasoline to diesel ratio is what the news has been telling us for about 5years (more possibly, my recollection is the past 5years though), it doesn't take 5years to adjust the output ratios. It's just profits, and oil companies are making record profits, guess who's money. It's a niche where the've found they can really make some gains lately.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

What indicators lead you to believe that fuel prices will drop? The world's population is growing at an unsustainable rate, and India and China are both rapidly becoming industrialized. These folks will soon begin to drive some sort of vehicle, so I highly doubt that we will ever see $2.00 per gallon fuel again.

I think $4+/gallon gasoline is very realistic for this summer, it is already being test-marketed in diesel fuel pumps.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Why has everyone broached the issue of all the Americans that own more than one home,ie cabin in the mountains ,condo down south etc... how much feul is wasted while these dwellings set idle. Also, americans have enjoyed unrealistically low fuel prices for the last 20 yrs, welcome to the WORLD.

Here we go.

Those of us old enough to rember the fuel crisis of the '70s, where the 55mph speed limit was born yet people drove Detroit bohemouths with low tires and stuck chokes, ... recreational boating came under fire, as did auto racing and going to football games, the amount of fuel used annually by people attending church was also estimated.

Yes we should drive less, but I'd rather get twice the mileage than do half of the recreational driving if I have a choice.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Do you remember when crude prices dropped to about $30 in the 90s? The oil market is always very volatile; if you were on the board of directors, would you invest in a decade long, billion dollar project based on the information that we have today? Hopefully crude will stay above $90US, but there are plenty of variables.

OK. If you say so. Clearly that's a more fun theory for you, and I wouldn't want to ruin it with anything like economic theory, or open-minded thinking.

Note: At no point will I deny that oil companies' desire for profits has some effect on fuel prices. Of course they're trying to make a profit at our expense. They even have a word for that sort of thing: "Capitalism." Crazy. Look it up some time. It's just a rather brutish assertion to believe that that, entirely, is responsible for the recent shoot-up in diesel prices. Or event that it's a dominant part of it. That just doesn't make sense. Oil companies, after all, are no less "greedy" or clever than they were 10 years ago. Yet prices were pretty gentle then. So what changed?

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

That's probably worth considering. As someone mentioned, the difficulty involved in opening a new refining plant probably dissuades refineries from expanding their production.

Most things in the economic jungle don't happen very quickly, though. At least not the good things.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I was at Johnsons Corner cafe after a service call and you should have seen the evil eye a trucker gave me when he asked me what I thought about the protest. Priceless, I wish I had a camera with me.

At the very least, the percentage of profit allowed by oil companies should be strictly limited. It would be one thing if they were actually competitive and really had to work hard to earn your business. They don't. When you need gas/diesel, you'll buy it. There are no easy workarounds to this, essentially giving them a monopoly.

Even this ethanol thing is nothing more than an attempt to keep the dino fuels alive for YEARS to come. And already it's working: "Look! When you use 'natural' fuels you drive up the price of food and everyone suffers! Look how inefficient ethanol is to make! Look how much your gas mileage and performance suffer! Etc! Etc! Etc!" Picking ethanol as the first seriously-attempted bio-fuel was no unfortunate accident. It will work perfectly by turning the average idiot American into a "bio-fuels are crap!" spouting dino-oil purist. Eventually, when it is firmly implanted into the American mind that ethanol (which will read "alternative fuels") is a bad, bad idea, oil will have another 30+ years of safety and maintain its monopoly on the transportation energy market.

Back to ridiculous oil company profits...
Sitting on 123 billion dollars in profits and then turning around and taking 18 billion more in subsidies from the American people is absolutely despicable and COMPLETELY ridiculous. This would be like a kid who makes 12.3 million dollars a year collecting a 1.8 million dollar Pell Grant from the government, paid for by YOU (and you and you and you and you...)

Sorry for the long rant, but I studied economics in college, and anyone who's taken even two courses of macro is WELL aware that oil prices, while they ARE heavily influenced by supply and demand, are also MASSIVELY artificially raised above what would be a normal market price/profit in any other industry, which is accomplished via collusion amongst the governments of the major oil-producing nations (to keep supply low and price non-competitive).

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'79 300SD
'82 Chevy Chevette diesel