Gas at my local pump is 2.87 or so and Deisal 3.87? at what price point does deisal fail to make sence? Oh and btw Coal is 27.00 a Ton and has more BTU then both gas and Diesal
You must be in PA. Made the trek to Kansas and back from Maryland this month - when gas in the states traversed were in the $2.12 - $2.19 range in PA it was $2.75
Same in suburban Chicago, where the cheapest gasoline (87 octane) is about 2.45 while Diesel fuel is 2.25-2.35. Maybe CandO should get a Stanley Steamer to burn his cheap coal? Or some of his alcohol?
CANDO First edit your original to correct spelling of Diesel.
It may be that we first need to check the amount of taxes on diesel compared to Gasoline. Here in Georgia when total Gasoline prices are compared to Diesel price seems about same. Isn’t the US diesel tax higher than gasoline ?
These diesel taxes will not be applied in many states to RRs ( Alabama got court approval for theirs on RRs )
Of course Amtrak has to pay no taxes on diesel anywhere.
The Amtrak MPR for March showed average diesel costs-------
Period actual Budget Last year
March $1.76 $1.82 $1.33
FY 2017 1.76 1.72 1.44
How much do freight RRs pay ? ? ?
Just think how much more a private operator of passenger trains may have to pay. Thinking of Brightline running 2 Chargers. Amtrak publishs approximately 2.2 gallons per mile, source MPR
CANDO here is why fuel prices can vary so much state to state. This is a listing of the Fuel tax applied to all Diesel fuel state to state Nationwide. So if you live in the border areas of PA it is cheaper to go across the stateline to get fuel than get it in PA. http://www.truckmiles.com/FuelPrices.asp When almost 75 cents a gallon is state fuel tax you begin to start to avoid getting fuel in a state.
I got trapped into fueling in PA on my outbound trip to Kansas - I made sure that didn’t happen on the return trip.
Will be going to upstate NY near the end of June - unfortunately there is no way I can make the trip without getting fuel in PA.
Diesel fuel used to cost less than gasoline. That changed 1-2 years after the economy dived in 2008. Diesel fuel used to be refined from heavier thicker crude oil. That kind of oil can be as thick as mud. The EPA tightened emissions for Diesel fueled vehicles so the refineries had to use lighter more expensive oil to make diesel in order to reduce particulates going into the air we breathe. Gasoline is refined from light sweet crude. When you lookup what price a barrel of oil is selling for, that price is for light sweet crude which is the best and most expensive crude oil you can buy. From other stories I have read on other sites the state of Pennsylvania doesn’t sound friendly to travelers whether they are refueling or trying to obey traffic laws.
What you pay at the pump for diesel and what the railroads pay are two different things. The railroads buy fuel in huge quantities each year, litterally millions of gallons per year. I have read that the only organization that uses more diesel fuel per year than Union Pacific is the U.S. Navy.
I’m sure the railroads employ brokers to buy oil futures to lock in low prices, months or years in advance.
When you buy fuel like that… They give you Green Stamps!
Please don’t post BS about something you know nothing about. Refineries are built for specific feedstocks. You don’t just switch to a radically different feedstock. The increase in Diesel costs is due to the low sulfur requirement.
The basics of what I said is that the production of diesel fuel had to be switched from heavy crude to light sweet crude.
And don’t be such a smart ass.
But you said it was to reduce particulates, without explaining why, and seemed to be indicating it was the viscosity or hydrocarbon composition of the feedstock, not the ex-sulfur-bridge content, that was the explanation for the cost increase.
If explaining technical subjects for general consumption, you sometimes need to go into detail rather than making statements that seem like BS until explicated. It might be wise at this point to discuss some of the points, such as exactly what the relationship between sulfur content and particulate generation is, and what changes needed to be made in reformulated ULSD for injector lubricosity.
Looks like I’m among some rivet counter high detail perfectionists. I have other things to do today without diving deep into details. Call my reply above a snapshot. Sounds like you are seeking a college course deep down into the mud answer.
No, just people who expect folks making definitive-sounding statements about technical subjects to know how to back them up.
(We make allowances for the MG fan’s social skills; he has an engineer’s slight patience for people he thinks are BSing)
Well besides working about 33 hours a week I have other projects more important to do than please you with the deep details you think I’m obligated give here in book long form. I’ve seen several threads that I have started in this forum get lost in a jungle of details not related to the original post and the thread ends up losing all things interesting that I thought the title of thread brought to the forum.
The interesting thing here was that you were explaining why the cost of diesel had increased over the cost of ‘regular’ gasoline, and actually going into some of the technological reasons. That remains interesting, and should be valuable knowledge even for the OP of this thread (who, I think, was more interested in a rant about high pump prices).
Thank you, now I think we are moving forward.
Diesel fuel is generally 10-20 Euro cents cheaper per liter than ‘regular’ gasoline. In Germany, about 1.14 € for Diesel vs 1.35 € for Benzin (gasoline). I do not think the reason is a tax differential.
The difference between Light and heavy crude is how much of the lighter more valuable compounds like Gasoline benzene and items like that are in it. Sweet and Sour crudes grades are used to describe the amount of sulphur in the oil. Brent North Sea is a Heavy Sweet Crude. Texas oil tends to be Light Sweet crude. The oil sands are a very heavy Sour crude. Bakken Shale is a Very Light Sweet crude to the point it has to be blended with a heavier grade feedstock to be used. It has a weight of API rating of 42 Texas is in the range of 51 most refineries are set up to handle 48-60. Sorry you learn a heck of a lot hauling Haz Mat and having trucks in and out of refineries all over the place.
WTI (West Texas Intermediate) usually trades lower than Brent on the spot and futures market. Today’s closes were $48.66 vs $51.08.