What's the deal with California (Bay Area) diesel prices?

[speedy300Dturbo]

Two weeks ago, diesel was a reasonable $1.43 / gallon. Now the price has shot by about 20 cents everywhere! It's almost as much as premium gasoline in some cases. WHY???

Anyone else in the Bay Area, how much are you paying for diesel, and where?

[DieselGent]

I don't know whats up. Here in Sacramento I have found one no name place sell it for $1.43 this is what Exxon used to sell it for 3 weeks ago now they want $1.63. I just passed by a Chevron station selling it for 0.10 more than premium gas at $1.79. I might have to try the now no name place if this keeps up and hope their diesel is decent

The time of the year is just about right. What you may be looking at is the price starting upwards as #2 home heating oil is essentially the same stuff. The refineries are likely starting to divert road fuel prduction off in favor of home heating oil. There was also a blurb on CNN showing that #2 home heating oil is expected to increase in price by some 42%

The same thing is happening here in Central Washington. A few weeks back diesel was around $1.36 per gallon, and now it is around $1.60 per gallon. At least it is still cheaper than gasoline.

Diesel in the Tulsa area is now about the same price as 89 octane. Took a trip across Missouri to East St. Louis last week in the Benz, same story all the way across, just more expensive there than in Oklahoma.

[The Warden]

I haven't needed to take on fuel in a while; the Benz gets great mileage and I haven't driven the truck very much.

However, last time I fueled up (slightly over a week ago), the price of fuel at the Chevron that I usually go to was $1.73, up from the $1.63 that it was at for a good portion of the summer. I almost don't want to know what it's at now...

I remember driving through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona and seeing diesel at $1.15 to $1.25 a gallon and feeling very lucky...also liked the 75mph speed limit...that's what I really need to do - get out of CA

Can you spell g-o-u-g-e?

There appears to be no real competition or anything else to control prices. Whatever people will pay (when they have no alternative).

Gouging is the correct word for it, They've got you by the small hairs. Its not like you can get fuel by some other method, although a refinery in your backyard would be nice!

I think that everyone is correct in saying that they will go up further yet, when they decide to bury Iraq again....

I guess I should feel lucky Diesel is still only a $1.51 here, up from a $1.23, hurts the pocketbook when you buy 25 gallons a week......oh well.

Just my $0.02!

The oil companies are very smart to use an attack with Iraq as an excuse to increase U.S. oil prices. In fact the U.S. gets a lot of oil from Venezuela, and not as much from the Middle East as many people are lead to believe. We shouldn't really complain too much because we have some of the lowest oil prices in the world. I won’t get into the real costs we are paying for our oil, i.e. taxes that support military protection in the Middle East.

C'mon people, you need to lay the conspiracy theory to rest. Thanx to the environmentalists, this country cannot expand its current refining capacity. Currently, the US is at it's maximum capacity for refining fuel of ANY type. Our fuel and home heating oil are essentially the same stuff. The northern and northeastern states are now getting ready for winter. This means, us diesel owners must now share with the homeowners that which makes our cars and trucks go. If the winter is harsh, then the prices will continue to climb throughout the winter. If the winter is mild, as NOAA is predicting, then the prices will start falling by December or January, as demand for home heating oil will fall.

[autozen]

If it weren't for the environmentalists,you wouldn't be able to breathe in cities without an oxygen mask. You wouldn't be able to walk on grass unless you had a lawn or a friend had a lawn;the developers would pave over everything. There would be no open space. You would never be able to walk on the beach of the Atlantic or the Pacific, because it would all be private property with no public access. I don't,however,totally agree with everything in the environmental movement. Remember Hagel's Theory. There is a thesis,an anti thesis, and a synthesis. We do depend on environmentalists to be the watch dog, but they also need their chains yanked periodically to keep things real.

My real reason for joining this thread was to comment on the supply issue. We are constantly being blared at by congress and the administration through the news media that cars need to be made more fuel efficient to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.Cars aren't the only problem. If I were King, I would pass laws that you will never see from congress. One of the laws I would pass would make it mandatory for manufacturers to make all their products durable and upgradeable to stay in service for many years.Just about everything made in this country is designed to last a short time. Products from Detroit are a good example. The manufacturing process usually requires energy in the form of oil to make something out of plastic which is made from oil. If your stereo could be upgraded or have modules replaced, it would not have to be remade with more oil.One company already does this. My Bose music system was $2,000 and is several years old. To upgrade to the latest digital decoding I send the serial # of the unit and $500. They send me a new module, and I send the old one back in the same box with shipping included. I would pass a few other laws not related to this thread. I would require all toasters, etc, to come with a cord that reaches the outlet. I would also require design engineers to use their own products for a minimum of six months. Anyway, enough venting.

Peter

I would have to agree with all of Peter's comments. More products need to be upgradeable and more durable, and we need to get away from our throw-away society that we are in. If the manufactures can't do this, they need to make items easier to recycle. To make this post legal, I bought a Mercedes diesel because it is very durable, and when its useful life is over, it will be recycled.

[Nate Stanley]

Peter,
your points are well-taken.

That's exactly why we are on this discussion board, because Mercdes-Benz has demonstrated that it HAS been able to build cars that far outlive anything else on the road.

Most of us have cars that are either approaching or have gone past the 200,000 mile mark, and it is the solid engineering of these Diesels that give us all a reason to keep our machines in top running order.

The big challenge facing automakers is to open the way for public acceptance of hydrogen fuel cells and other alternate fuels- and to get the infrastructure in place to fuel these cars.

Will it happen? Not if they can continue making big bucks selling gasoline powered cars.

In the meantime, those of you out there who are making biodiesel are to be applauded, and the rest of us who don't can still keep our cars running for many years to come because 20 years ago, Daimler-Benz had the commitment to quality that we are still benefiting from.

[autozen]

Eric,
Thanks for the support. I am serious, and I would like to see a grass movement startedto make things that will last. This is good coversation for parties and barbecues, etc. We won't even be losing any jobs, because nothing is made here anymore anyway. We need to adopt more of the habits of Europe and reduce pollution and waste.

Peter

[rmmagow]

Hmm, recycled. Now I know where my 300D came from.