Diesel fuel currently appears to be about 10p litre more than petrol. Can somebody explain why?
With all the negative press about diesel, the collapse in diesel car sales (for some time now) one would have thought demand would be declining for diesel fuel, and therefore price would reduce. Or are petrol and diesel under different tax regimes?

To avoid any confusion, my question relates to UK and not the current situation in France! 2014 Freelander 2 TD4 GS Auto

Todays Wholesale Diesel Price 95.92p
Petrol 87.99p

Graph of Wholesale and Retail Prices in link below

https://www.racfoundation.org/data/wholesa...rices-data


I think that cars only use a small fraction of diesel produced. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 79k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Thanks for the reply, and that is one explanation. However, I always understood that diesel was a less refined product than petrol (i.e. cheaper to manufacture than petrol) - but clearly it must be overall supply and demand that sets the wholesale price. 2014 Freelander 2 TD4 GS Auto

Two reasons that I can see.

Although sales of diesel cars are indeed falling, number of of diesel cars on the road was still rising in early 2018. This is because diesels were still being sold faster than they were being taken off the road and scrapped. Given that one of the advantages of a Diesel engine is its ability to keep going to higher mileages, then it will be a long time before the demand for diesel as a car fuel drops significantly.

Secondly there is a natural ratio of production between diesel and petrol as part of the oil refinery process. In countries where diesel demand outstrips that natural proportion of supply, then the price of diesel rises above that of petrol. The reverse holds true in countries where diesel demand is weaker.

Remember that for every litre of diesel you buy, you are getting about 8% more weight of fuel than you do with petrol and about 4.6% more energy per litre.

At today’s UK average prices, diesel is 2.5% more expensive per mJ of energy than petrol - what your right foot does with it after that is up to you! 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

its only about 4 or 5 years since it went down to a price of about 99p a litre and was cheaper than petrol at a few places by a penny.
What amazes me theses days is there are no mass riots or complaints from the haulage industry, has the Govt struck a deal with them to give them tax back as they always questioned the fuel rises in years gone by. 2017 SEAT Ateca 4drive 2.0 xcellence (May 2022 -
2007 HSE with HST bodykit in Zermatt Silver 169,700 miles (dec 2016 - May 2022 )
2007 Honda Civic Type S GT (2012-2017)
2002 Mini Cooper S (2008-2012)
1992 Honda Legend 3.2i (2003-2008)
1990 Honda Concerto (1999-2003)
1985 Honda Accord (1997-1999)
1983 Honda Accord (1993-1997)
1983 Mini Mayfair (1988-1993)
1974 Mini 1000 (1979-1986)

I don’t think fuel duty has changed since George Osborne reduced it in his first budget back in 2011, hence the lack of protests. It was the Fuel Price Escalator that caused the earlier backlash, with planned year-on-year increases. 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

Down under:

$1.489L Diesel
$1.329L 98
$1.169L 91

Pity I have a full tank of 98.

https://motormouth.com.au


Still about $2.00L across the Nullarbor for diesel & 91

http://www.fuelmap.com.au Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18