Why does diesel cost more than petrol? (even though it costs less to make)

I cannot think of any logical reason why diesel fuel should be more expensive than petrol. Almost every commercial vehicle is diesel powered so this inevitably increases the price of goods, as approx 90% of goods arrive by road. Modern diesels are no more dirty than a petrol engined vehicle and are noticeably more efficient. Diesels are also a mutli-fuel engine so are able to run on alternative fuels such as veg oil. When I first bought a diesel car (1988) diesel was approx 10 pence a litre less than petrol. As diesel ownership increased the price matched and overtook petrol. I may be cynical but it seems to me that an easy way of increasing revenue was discovered. Obviously this hit commecial operators too but this was just passed on to the public, further bumping up the Governments take. Only now, with the price at a record high are we realising how we have been taken for mugs...........Once again. ..... Now where did I put that refined chip shop oil..........?

While searching for an answer to why diesel is more expensive than petrol, I was concerned about the poor grammar and bad spelling in some of the comments. Surely, if people are going to air their opinions in public, they should at least try and get their language right.

Why is petrol/diesel so expensive? It's called rip off Britain!!!

The current increases in petrol duty are those from the last labour budget.

Diesel and petrol are taxed at the same rate. Burning a litre of diesel produces about 15% more CO2 (and more energy) than a litre of petrol, so if anything diesel should be taxed at a higher rate than petrol. However since the fuel strikes the government haven't dared have a serious play with fuel tax so have instead come up with a pointless and complicated VED system instead.

As the UK has fairly low car ownership and use figures compared to mainland Europe, a high asthma rate suggests little of no relationship between asthma and road transport.

Quite amusing to see that the first post thinks a change in government will make for cheaper fuel ...... that didn't work then! Market forces, things cost what people are prepared to pay for them. The pollution caused by the internal combustion engine should be your main concern and making fuel expensive means you don't waste it on a V8 engined family run around. Why does the UK have Europe's highest number of asthma patients?

Mr Cameron announced a few weeks ago that the Govt.was to spend £2 million to find out if /what makes us happy. Surely if petrol, diesel, gas and electricity were much cheaper ( I don't know how ) this would reduce the price of everything else. Som eclever person /people somewhere should be given the £2m to come up with ideas of how this could be achieved. Like many others I struggle to pay for these these items. Best Wishes Malc of Chesterfield.

I HAVE RECENTLY RETURNED FROM CORFU AND ALTHOUGH FUEL IS MORE EXPENSIVE IN GREECE DIESEL IS 20 CENTS CHEEPER THAN PETROL.AND IN MOST OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES I HAVE VISITED DIESEL IS ALSO CHEEPER.AS WE ARE ALL IN THE E.C SHOULD IT NOT BE THE SAME HERE

i have recently returned from corfu and although fuel is more expensive in greece . diesel is 20 cents cheeper than petrol.it is also cheeper in othere european countries i have visited

Diesel has always been more for years, but thats because you get more milage froma diesel engine so they have to recoup there loss. As for who to vote for labour did me no favours.

diesel is a dirty fuel and always has been.
i say ban the diesel.
petrol prices should be half that of diesel.

this government stopped us smoking in pubs due to passive smoking.
the dangers to health ,of which are from particle matter.

the smaller the particle the worse the health issue.
asbestos is a well known example of PM size.

smoking PM size and asbestos PM size are not as small as the PM size of diesel engines .

lets ban this engine due to global warming and health issues from diesel fuels.

check out health issues from oxidation and the low level ozone production from this fuel use.

no2 and nox and particular matter from the emmisions is causing methemoglobin health problems due to the lack of o2 oxygen in our blood.

the human body is an obligate aerobe but turns facultive when under oxaidive stress.

drive on the motorway get a headache or feel sleepy (hypoxia symptoms).

ban the diesel i say.

i agree with what penny says cause i recently brought a diesel mondeo and ever since i did diesel just keeps getting more expensive .but i had a petrol version and i spent alot on petrol ,so i dont regret buying the diesel cause i get 45 -50 mpg out of it

Well well, ASDA are now reducing their fuel card discount from 2p to 1p from 01 March, they are also, like all of the other retailers & fuel companies, maintaining a 12p differential, across-the-board. Make no mistake, in addition to the govt making an absolute fortune, these companies have got us over a barrel, excuse the pun. Isn't it illegal to fix a price? cos that's what they are all doing. Hands up ASDA etc etc & tell us mugs how much profit you are making out of petrol as against diesel? Remember when we joined the EEC we were told that butter prices would have to rise to match the rest of the EEC member countries ! Are we in the EEC or not? Oil prices are now lower than before the hike's of 2008 yet somehow diesel has lost it's parity & is now, as I mentioned, 12p dearer, across-the-board. My ASDA card will be returned from the end of Feb in protest & disgust at what they & all the other retailers & oil companies are up to...price fixing

Would someone kind person please explain to me when in spring of 2007 the differential between pertol and diesel was approx 5p ie 87.9 to 92.9 and now in January 2009 the differential is 12p ie 85.9 to 97.9. Is it simply that the greedy fuel companies are profiteering from all those people who thought they were helping planet Earth( a little) in changing from petrol to diesel .( prices from my local Morrisons supermarket filling station).
I would love to know from someone where I can see a graph of pertrol versus diesel price differential from 2000 to the present. Anyone know?

Good evening all,Can any one give me a deffinate answer as to which fuel costs the most to produce,Diesel or Petrol.Got quite an argument going on about it.Any chemists out there?

The Diesel price currently in the UK is disgusting! Petrol keeps on dropping as above poster said but, currently its 90.9p / liter unleaded and a stupid 105.9p for diesel, the difference used to be only 2p a liter now its 15p! The supermarkets have done 2 price cuts in the past 3 weeks and the diesel price only just reduced by 1p a liter today ,wheres in the same time period petrol has reduced 4p a liter!
If the government doesnt change the tax levvy on diesel, TDI Diesel cars will dissapear off the roads in the UK within 2 years, it makes no sense to have a car that does 50mpg but costs an extra 15p a liter to fill up, You might as well just have a small petrol engine doing 40mpg and you will be better off with the saving in fuel price alone, never mind that the car costs you less to service and buy in the first place.

I thought the goverment was pushing for 'Green cars' seeing as most new diesel engines are below 120g/co2 they are perfect for helping the goverment hit green emissions targets, yet whos gonna buy a diesel car at the minute?

Thats my 2p worth

So what's going on now ! A year ago the price difference between petrol and diesel was maybe 5p or 6%. Now after the $150 barrel price spike has come and gone the difference is 14p or 15% (93p petrol - 107p diesel).

What is going on ?

Diesel nowadays costs more to make than petrol due to the low sulphur introduced a few years ago. see: www.petrolprices.com/price-of-petrol.html

I would much rather drive a petrol than a diesel any day as a diesel is less responsive, noisy, smells and costs more meaning that insurance is more. Diesel services generally cost more as well. Therefore the petrol works out cheaper over several years. Arguements that diesels have improved in recent years are true, but it is still a dirtier fuel that still smells a lot compared to petrol - not forgetting the blooms of sut that you see comming from diesel exhausts often - thats clean!

In addition to this, I have recently purchased a Hyundai i10. This is a petrol, 119 CO2 so £35 road tax (£30 next year) and is averaging over 60MPG on a long journey. Before purchasing this, I test drove the C1 petrol and diesel and found the diesel to be very noisy and having followed one the other day, it smelt like your traditional diesel - awful.

"You're one of only a few people I've ever come across who have slandered the most needy and vulnerable in society as "ba$tards"

Please! The guy may have been talking about the life-long multi-generation dole families. which are a drain on the country, infact the route of most of our problems I'd say. Petrol/Diesel might be cheaper if we weren't spending so much money on these people. Most of which are not able to bring up kids properly, causing more crime. It's always good to know that one day you may get knifed in the street by the same person whos "upbringing" you've paid for. May I also say, Labour always want to give these people more money so they can have more kids and be even more lazy. Brilliant! They never have to worry about rising bills etc. Awesome job labour!

Shame on these dole wollers, the system that they suck dry is a fabulous creation just like the NHS. There to help the genuinely needy.

plus you can always top it up with aldi vegatable oil. you diesel scally wags you.
its like drivinbg behind a mobile chippy.

diesel costs more because it stinks.
im sorry but if your stuck behing a diesel car or lorry or worse still a twenty year old bus you have close off air vents and shut up all the windows.
the effects of diesel on the chest and throat is nigh on herrendous.
plus diesel users always manage to spill it everywhere at the garage so we have to walk in it and then we stink like you do.
diesel is a dirty smellt fuel and is an excuse for people with big egos to drive even bigger cars because the extra 4 miles they go means they can afford to fill it up.
modern petrol engines are cleaner and more fuel efficent and it was over due where the diesel buyer had to spend more.
for years petrol was more expensive now its your turn.
diesel should cost double what it is.
i dont mind paying more for my food if the air dont stink of diesel fumes.
soon you paying lots more road tax as well

great stuff.

like i say diesel stinks in mor ways than one.

our leader mr brown could sort this problem out right away.. reduce the tax he takes from fuel.. like the floods he gets the vat on goods to repair homes. just another money grabbing member of the elite MP's who have been living on the backs of Mr public. the sooner he is out of office the better. but will another party do any better I DOUBT IT. they are all at the troughs

I own and run a Calderra Black metalic Citroen C1 diesel and have achieved close to 90mpg on numerous occasions.

The fuel tank only holds 7.5 gallons or 34litres and i have managed 637 miles on a full tank before bottling out and refilling it.There was some fuel left about 3 to 4 litres but i wasnot prepared to find out how much because running a diesel dry is a recipie for disaster as the car runs on compresion and is very difficult to restart having run out of fuel.

You can do it with a petrol but not a diesel.

Having a small fuel tank and a car that easily averages 70mpg with little effort and very low emissions of 109 i will remain a committed diesel driver.

The petrol C1 is almost as efficient but willnot be as long lived as a diesel.

Every time you start a petrol engine the engine wear is increasing since petrol is a solvent and certainly offers little protection to the engine.

Modern diesel engines are just as clean as petrol ones and since diesel is a refined oil and being injected into the piston bores every second your diesel engine will prabably outlast the rest of the car.

Yes diesel costs more than petrol but with both fuels now costing over £5 a gallon i know which one i will be using because diesel will always return higher miles to the gallon than petrol.

Actually i only paid £7,395 for my little eco chariot and Mr Darling has reduced my car tax next year has he done the same for you.

I very much doubt it.

Highway Robbery!! Our Gordon isnt interested in helping!!! TAX and more TAX.. I bet he's loving the oil companies puttin up crude prices...GIVE A LIFELINE to our lorry drivers , taxis, and good honest working people who NEED a car to work Mr Brown so you can tax them on their earnings too!! Most peoples cars are tools to work not luxuries anymore..

dear all.....just wait for 1 year..the sysmptoms indicates that the crude oil price would touch 200dollars/barrel ...so we need to discover the other sources of energy.......else we r in trouble..