Gas vs diesel: calling all conspiracy theorists!

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

See? 1a & 2 = conspiracy!

Nope just empirical repeatable scenarios, there are even graphs of this past behavior online.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Driving by several stations this weekend, I saw gas as low as $2.92/gal, about a 70-80 cent drop in the last couple of months, but the lowest I saw for diesel was still $3.60, only a 10-15 cent drop. How come?

Because winter is starting and people like warm houses...

"heating oil" and diesel fuel are essentially the same, so demand is increasing right at the moment, especially with this cold snap.

Additionally, demand for gasoline is typically high in summer (road trips, camping, etc) and trails off in winter. Refineries get roughly a fixed percentage of gasoline and diesel from each barrel of crude, so if the supply of both fuels are linked together. If they process more barrels of crude to get more diesel to meet higher demand, they will have too much supply of gasoline.

I'd bet we see a similar drop in diesel in another month or two as most people get their heating oil tanks filled up and demand falls.

[Cobb]

I paid 2.44 a gallon for gas at east coast last week.

I remember diesel being cheaper than gas in the 90s. They (big oil) discovered it was inelastic and people are willing to pay more BECAUSE ITS A DIESEL.