Been watching some media stories recently regarding the price of fuel, but nobody seems to know why diesel is more expensive than petrol when it is a by product of the petrol refining process.

Anyone have the answer? MY13- TD4 XS Mauritius Blue, Privacy glass, Cold climate pack, Tailgate spoiler, Armrest pack, LED signature, Body side mouldings, Full size spare and finally Mudflaps

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I always thought it was taxed more.  Don't put petrol in a diesel. They don't run well.

Well I think we all believe that it takes less refining than petrol but in reality modern low sulphur diesel takes more, and I may be wrong here but it is also a case of "Supply and Demand" as diesel is popular in the UK and they charge accordingly.

its because the govment have raided the dvla records and this shows that there are more oil burners on the road than petrol so they can exploit us diesel owners by charging more for diesel.  rainy-city
xs

It costs more because they have added 2SO 2002 Honda VFR800
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Would it have anything to do with the fact HMGov wanted to make the country 'greener' so encouraged people to buy oil-burners rather than Petrol fuelled vehicles.

Then, a few years later they noticed more diesel than petrol was being consumed (cheaper - goes further) and a drop in revenue was detected --- so, UP it pops! (in price)  Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
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I think since "Lago Grey" became more popular than "Black", "Auto" became more popular than "Manual" and Freelanders are the caravanners choice that the demand of diesel began outstripping supply and the price went up.

I think it is just a case of demand outstripping supply - go out on the continant and diesel is far cheaper... Freelander 2 TD4 Auto, SE, Narvik Black, Alpaca full leather, Rear Headrest Entertainment System, 6 CD, 18 HSE Wheels, Privicy tints

It seems odd that many years ago Diesel was cheaper than Petrol, then as Diesel became more popular it overtook Petrol and for the last few years has sat about 4p a litre more than Unleaded, when the fuel went up last year, at one point Unleaded was the same as Diesel now it sees there is as much as 7p a litre difference

Interesting bit of info:

Quote:

Currently, diesel prices in the U.S. are slightly higher than gasoline. Across the pond, the story has been somewhat different. With the exception of the UK, diesel in Europe has usually been cheaper than gasoline. This was a consequence of European governments' policies on taxing fuels. Trucks and buses run on diesel, whereas cars traditionally ran on gasoline.

Nevertheless, producing diesel is more expensive than producing gasoline. For instance, according to the Spanish Ministry of Energy report on fuel prices, a metric ton of diesel cost about $826 compared to $803 for unleaded during the past month of January.

What Europeans pay at the pump differs a lot depending on the country, and not only because of taxes. Cost price of gasoline is from 47 euro cents/liter in Sweden to 60 euro cents/liter in the Netherlands. The average EU price is about 53 euro cents/liter. In the case of diesel, prices start at 51.7 euro cents/liter in Bulgaria and top 64.2 cents in Italy; the average for the EU is about 60 cents/liter.

Now let's add taxes. The most expensive gasoline in Europe last January was on sale in the Netherlands. The Dutch paid an average of 1.506 EUR/liter compared to 0.917 EUR/liter in Bulgaria. The average was 1.328 EUR/liter. In the case of diesel, Britons paid the most: 1.463 EUR/liter whereas Bulgarians paid 0.924. The average price of diesel in the EU was 1.234 EUR/liter, still cheaper than gasoline but in 14 out of 27 countries, diesel was more expensive than gasoline in January. The signs point toward a continuation of this trend. Spain's diesel became more expensive than gasoline in March, and both France and Italy seem likely to achieve the same price in the near future.

[Source: Spanish Ministry of Energy]

Interesting quote, but I would love to know the breakdown of costs regarding diesel MY13- TD4 XS Mauritius Blue, Privacy glass, Cold climate pack, Tailgate spoiler, Armrest pack, LED signature, Body side mouldings, Full size spare and finally Mudflaps

GONE - MY11 TD4 HSE LAGO GREY Privacy Glass

GONE- 08 GS Stornoway Grey Privacy Glass
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GONE- 04 Silver

trawlerman66 wrote:

Interesting quote, but I would love to know the breakdown of costs regarding diesel

If you go to "www . petrolprices . com" there ia a great page which tells you the breakdown of what we page for unleaded and diesel.

I was amazed at how much DUTY and then VAT we pay.

It was the first time I realised we also pay VAT on the DUTY we pay - double TAX  2002 Honda VFR800
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2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

On another note I wonder if all of the people buying Electric cars realise that when enough of them are on the road the government will start taxing them to the hilt, the government have to get their tax from somewhere. This is what they have done to diesel cars, when lots of people started switching to DERV up went the tax. I have no doubt they will start saying how they have to reduce the carbon from producing the electric to charge them up, and the enviormental impact of the metal and chemicals used in the batteries, sound familar, of course. As Maggie Thacher said there is only one place the government gets its money from, Tax. the problem is with prices heading to £1.50 a litre we are still buying it, so why would they reduce the tax.

Then add in income tax before you've even got the pump

If diesel was a cost of 137.9p per litre, it would be split as follows:





That means 80.93p goes direct to our thieving government

In France it's roughly 114p a litre  ______________________
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