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

Today diesel is about 12p per litre dearer than petrol! It's time to vote out labour and all the other USA buggering politicians. Don't forget that in the summer we will be given the excuse that the americans go summer driving to justify an increase in fuel prices. Do your very best in buying as little fuel as you can and make all of these people suffer. Lets all book the first week of summer off and stay at home.

since we joined the eu we have paid through the nose for eveything, now we are paying far more for our petrol and diesel here. it seems to me we always lose out. this country is taxed to the hilt and is now at breaking point.is it now time for fare treatment.

Initially at the beginning of the year diesel was roughly 10 c dearer than petrol now they've gone MAD.Listen carefully the price difference between petrol and diesel has reached 30 cents this is the greatest difference it's ever had.
Petrol was $1.48 and diesel $1.78 at the BP around the corner from my place,
HIGHWAY ROBBERY AUSSIE STYLE!!!

when the goverment want the public to stop smoking. they dont mean they want to lose the revenue on non smokers as well so they will keep petrol and desiel at high prices if not higher. they want us public to have nothing .

Diesel is now 10 to 12p a litre more than unleaded petrol.
Extra duty accounts for only 3.3p of this.
Anyone know why??!!

The price differential at my local Tesco is now 9p/litre! How can this possibly be justified when diesel is cheaper to produce than petrol, requiring less refining and thus greener than petrol from the start. Rod Bradford should be aware of this and the fact that diesel emissions are considerably lower than those of petrol, as he is concerned about climate change . The artificially high prices of diesel fuel are also translated into higher prices for everything we buy.

surely I'm correct in remembering that the ''diesel'' component was thrown away, until Mr Diesel invented his engine
The poor chap, penniless, committed suicide

Like Ian Williams I have been wondering why the differential price between diesel and petrol seesm to be out of step.
I paid 116.9 per litre for diesel last Friday (04/04/08) and 4 star petrol was 108.9. Today the same garage has 4 star still at 108.9 but diesel up to 117.9.

How can this be?

Did you know that you can actually run your diesel car on cooking oil - straight from the supermarket. Put a couple of gallons of diesel in your tank and top up with cooking oil. Simple! Cheap and very illegal!!! They don't want you to do it as you haven't paid fuel tax on it!!!

Also your car may smell like a fish and chip shop - but there's a downside to everything I suppose.

I have been wondering for some weeks now why the difference in price between diesel and unleaded is so great. In fact it was June 2007 when diesel was last the same as unleaded, since then is has been higher and the difference continues to grow. The average UK price of a litre of diesel is now 8p more than unleaded, that's over 36p per gallon! Fuel prices in the UK are extortionate anyway, on average our nearest western European neighbours are 11.5% cheaper than us. If this isn't bad enough, those of us who hoped to make a saving by driving a diesel are suffering. Any saving made by higher MPG is almost completely cancelled out by higher diesel price and higher vehicle purchase price. The government has acknowledged that diesel is now generally cleaner by its road tax policy, but any saving here is minimal; surely more should be done to make diesels more viable, especially since (tongue in cheek) our government is so much more committed to the environment than it is to generating revenue! In many European countries diesel is not taxed as highly, in part because they recognise the environmental benefits, but also because they acknowledge the impact on transport costs for consumer goods and the resultant impact on retail prices - but then if this was observed over here our government would make less in VAT wouldn't they! The only reason I can find to explain why diesel is so much more expensive then unleaded is that the relatively low number of diesel refineries are struggling to keep up with the increased demand due to increased numbers of diesel vehicles, but this surely cannot explain why such a difference has only developed in the last 6 months. Can someone please explain!

Yes, see blog 94! I have just bought diesel at 1.175p/Litre and petrol is 1.05p/litre..what a rip-off! Having travelled quite often in Europe it is clear that everywhere else has diesel cheaper than petrol, so it must be the oil companies that are prifiteering. As someone else mentioned, if the hauliers are not paying these exhorbitant prices for diesel this takes the bargaining power from the public. Time something was done about this.
An as regards Global warming, if it is happening, it is certainly nothing to do with mankind's activities..apparently all the planets in the solar system,, even pluto, have warmed significantly in the last 10 years..must be our CO2 then!!

I can remember when diesel was half the price of petrol, and it wasn't really that long ago 12 - 15 years ago. Diesel cars are amongst the greenest cars you can buy. Take for example the current model Volkswagen Golf 1.9 TDi S - Emissions 119 co2 gm/km where the petrol equivalent Volkswagen Golf 1.6 FSI SE - Emissions 168 co2 gm/km. This is why its got so expensive. People are getting done over for being green and polluting less! It cost a lot less less to produce than petrol. The government just wants to squeeze as much money as they can out of everyone.

Ok so what happens when Biofuels and LPG and god forbid hydrogen based fuel cell engines start becoming popular? we know the answer, the Govt of the day will obviously hike taxation on LPG and biofuels and hydrogen gas if i am right in beleiving that is the way these vehicles will be fuelled. It would be great if we could use water, then we could all pop to our nearest stream and fill up and take the water out of the flooding events that will plague us when global warming takes place

Hi,

Doesn't your diesel/petrol proce article need updating? I thought the diesel and petrol taxes were evened out at the last budget; petrol taxe, of coruse, going up to the higher diesel tax level.

Kind regards,

Martin

In the 1900's we had gas lines. Our goverment froze gas prices. Then they let the unchecked mark-up of diesel to begin. It is called slight of hand, you watch one thing [gas] while they slip another[diesel]. To all diesel drivers I wish you luck.

The reason the government gets into our salaries before we do is because we do nothing about it! As long as we continue with our 'I'm alright Jack' selfishness, nothing will change. If the 40million voters wrote to their MP every day on different issues for weeks, goverment would stop working. But we won't, so it won't. Just keep coughing up and get used to it. Or emigrate.

I live in the States and the price for diesel fuel today is $3.46 per gallon. As of today, the conversion of the Pound to the American dollar is 2.03. Using these figures, can anyone tell me how much it would cost for the following:
Long-haul truckers get around 6 miles to the gallon and a 200 gallon tank costs approximately $692.00. Therefore, if a truck travels 500 miles in a day the price for that fuel used is $288.33 for that day.
What would be the cost in American dollars for that same truck in the U.K.? Thank you for your response in advance.

The price of diesel and petrol is criminal, yes the cost of crude has gone up, but it is the 70% tax put on by the government that is causing financial problems for people. This lousy prime minister should reduce the tax on fuel to offset the sky high prices, but he wont, that is why we must get this government out. While we still have a country left, no wonder so many Brits are moving abroad, the cost of living is dire, brought about by taxes both indirect and stealth. By Labour government

I wonder what reason they will come up with when we approach the next ice-age? lol!

if you believe the Propaganda about global warming, you are doing exactly as they intend and wish you to.

the rising of temperature "global-warming" is part of the earths cycle. it has been since its existence began and will continue until the planet dies, which belive me, we have no control over.

Please tell me the difference...if any... between a car run on diesel and a car run on gasoline?

is todays petrol engines are better than desiel as i got a ford 51 plate endura tdi adn was wonderuin wot miles wud b better email me plz

Suddenly with the outrageous petrol and diesel prices again this topic becomes very relevant, diesel at least 2p a litre more (why??), also with reference to comment #46, I will comment on global warming if I want, and express my opinions without allowing a pillock like #46 to tell me otherwise-PILLOCK!!

Hi All, I've just come back from holiday in New York. 99.9% of the 1000's of cabs run V8 petrol cars. I was told that the government prohibit anyone buying new diesel cabs.

New York is VERY congested, verging on gridlock and yet people still eat on the 'sidewalk', this wouldn't be possible if all the cabs were diesel as the environment would be far too smoggy, with horrrendous fumes all over the place.

The asian government has realised that all the smog in Hong Kong has been caused by by diesel taxi's and plan to replace them.

Why then are cars in the UK taxed according to co2 levels alone. This means that dirty diesels are cheaper then cleaner petrol cars - I know it must be yet another underhand way of raising more taxes but simply do NOT understand this !!!

Can anyone shed any light on this !!!

PS. I think Gordon Brown is USELESS, he isn't a Prime Minister, he is a bean counter, he hasn't achived anything apart from 100 stealth taxes without
any benefit to anyone (apart from ensuring the Scottish get more money per head than in england where the money comes from)

I forgot to say, to help me against rising costs each time I fill up, I add half a capsul of a substance which enhances the working of the engine when it burns fuel. In my mondaeo I have had an increase in mileage per full tank of 14% which relates to around 56 extra miles per tank, the cost of the capsuls are 1 pound each so each pound I pay I get 112 extra miles. Call me

I am a self employed trainer and have no options open to me other than use either my old petrol mondeo estate or my 4 year old Freelander diesel. I cover around 2K per month in mileage so present price increases will affect my business greatly as I am unable to pass the rise in tax onto my customers as my business is very competitive and any increase in services would result in loss of work. I don't see the Goverment giving handouts to people like me, we wonder why people are leving th UK in droves to live in other countries where taxes are cheaper.
I have sons who live abroad and they can fill a vehicle up (63 Ltrs) for 75p I think now is the time to st*** you HMG I'm going.

So if this dedicated bunch in westminster are really convinced that there is a real problem with global warming and that the way to stop/slow it down is to tax their unfortunate subjects to death [literally] ,what are they actually doing with all the millions of extra cash we are paying in? Wouldn't we all be a little more convinced of their concern if they were to offer every household a 75% discount on solar panelsor create a think tank to improve the infernal combustion engine to be at least 95% efficient! Force the motor manufacturers to make cars that do 100 miles to the gallon, not 150 miles an hour. Impossible? Only if you have the fat cats in the fuel industry doing all they can to guarantee their massive bonuses!

Diesel is the future, that's all I can say. More miles per gallon, less carbon whats the problem with diesel, 4 p at the pumps or whatever the difference is. It is by no means a differnce that renders diesel a useless choice, diesels provide so much more mpg, over 200 miles extra on a tank in some cars and you are arguing that an extra 2.00 or so for an extra 200 miles is stupid. I used to be a fan of petrol but after driving a turno diesel i saw the LIGHT!

Paul Burnett - do you really think that the 70's was a yawn.
?

Time for a national drivers STAY at HOME day.

Most people don't drive their car for joy, but to get to their work to pay taxes and national insurance.

We are coming up to a general election, ask the candidates for a promise on scrapping fuel duty, anyone who won't promise on this don't vote for them.

Time for a change and time to look at independent candidates.

The worst roads in Europe.

The highest personal taxation.

e.g. take £100

take off 22% tax (-£22)

Take of 12% NI contributions (-£12)

What do you have left ? £67

Buy a car pay VAT @ 17.5%

Buy anything and pay VAT

Buy a house pay Stamp duty and VAT is charged on the services.

Sell a House and make a profit and they want to charge capital gains tax after having charged VAT on the selling services.

With VAT being charged on so many things you could argue that the £67 you have left after initial taxation reduces your spending power by 17.5%

This means that £67 x 0.825 = £55.27 true value to your spending potential.

In effect you are actually giving half your salary away to HMC & Revenue.

If you have the ability to scrimp and save then they want to tax you at 22% on any interest you have earned.

If you manage to get through this taxation minefield over your life and have something left when you die (to pass onto your hard pushed relatives) If its worth more than £300,000 then they want to tax the difference at %40 (inheritance Tax)

To everyone who says "well you have over £300,000 the Government is right to tax you!" consider that much of this is due to the rise in property prices.

With the amount of money that is raked in with all the tax scams that HMC&R
operate you would think that we should have the best country in the world.

We Don't, while the government are experts at getting cash in they are rubbish at managing how it is spent. (have a look at the Taxpayers alliance site)

The UK Government wastes Billions of our pounds every year and we continue to accept their incompetence.

Time for real change - vote for independents and kick vested self interested parties out of Westminster.

Vote for someone that wants to do right for you and your community.

As of Monday 25th June 2007, the avg price across the UK of Petrol equals 97.05p/litre, and Diesel avg = 97.41p/litre.

Once Duty/Vat is subtracted, the Company has 34.25p/litre left in the Petrol case, and 34.55p/litre in the Diesel case.

However, the Company margin is less in the Diesel case, because of higher production costs, than in the petrol case.

This being said, all companies are making healthy profits at the moment, mainly because the "Crude Market" is lagging behind the "Products Market", which is suffering from high demand. Refineries are having a hard time keeping up, this will not change quickly.

68 & 69 comments both correct, but how come in England nearly all pertol stations still charge £0.01/litre more for diesel even though its true after tax selling price is below that of low octane unleaded patrol. A few charge same price. This is ourageous profiteering by the oil companies against the diesel car drivers, most of whom are probably totally unaware of this situation. I hate being taken advantage of in such a blatent way...

The worldwide demand for Petrol, has outstripped the demand for Diesel.

With expanding car markets throughout the world, this is a very simple result. Plus it's "summertime" everybody takes to the road, on both sides of the Atlantic. Happens every year, regular as clockwork.

There are more Petrol vehicles in the UK, than Diesel.

The price of fuel in south wales has gone silly why is it that petrol is now more expensive than diesel??

Can anyone tell me??

this is the most silliest thing that is happening with petrol now...no matter how mjuch petrol uk and usa take for the lives of muslims in iraq...you would think that petrol would go down by 10p or less...every summer the petrol goes up....its now 97.9 in my area.....this is BS...VOTE OUT LABOUR.....get rid of them......i have a rover 214 si that gives me 215 miles for £30,.....thats expensive for me being a student....i would rather shift to diesel tho...

Just my luck that when I finally get a diesel car (Mondeo), the price has gone up higher than petrol!! But I still find it more economical - 40 - 50 mpg average, not bad?

I have been a diesel car owner for nearly two years, and finally the cost between unleaded and diesel has levelled off. I have paid up to 7 pence per litre difference, when achieving 65mpg on normal driving, comparing to mid 40s mpg for an efficient petrol engined car. Why should I pay 7ppl more when I'm using so much less fuel?

FHJFSDKFHEHFJS

Ultra Low Sulphur Petrol, and Ultra Low Sulpher Diesel, along with Sulphur Free Petrol and Sulphur Free Diesel are all taxed at the same rate . 48.35p/litre Fuel Duty plus Vat. Most car's use this fuel n the UK.

"Conventional Diesel" at 2000ppm/Sulphur and above, carries a Fuel Duty of 54.68p/litre plus Vat. This is mostly used by commercial ventures, not car's.

Most private car's are still petrol driven, the demand for petrol worldwide, far exceeds the demand for diesel worldwide. This accounts for Petrol's rapid price rise, compared to Diesel. Both fuels are on the rise, but the price gap has virtually disappeared.

European refineries produce more Diesel than Petrol, thus when Petrol Demand is high, so are the prices. This situation may not last too long, after the "summer driving season" ends.

Diesel is more expensive than petrol because there is more tax on it. Diesel which was 5 p dearer than petrol in my area, is now 1 p cheaper, effectively an increase of 6 p in the cost of petrol! Can anyone explain why?

Fuel Duty on both Petrol, and Diesel is set to rise by 2p/litre plus Vat, on October 1st 2007. Then, by the same amount on April 1st 2008, in other words twice in six months.

Now add, the proposed "Road Charges" pilot schemes in certain area's, due for rollout in 2008. The "Freedom of the Road" is turning into an expensive "sentence", based on enviromental concerns.

Most people's "disposable" income is shrinking, faster than they can earn it. Due mainly, to increased taxes, and charges they are required to pay. Coupled with, the increasing number of ban's being put in place. At some point the general public, may say "enough is enough".

Well if petrol is cheaper in the UK and we are still paying more the government needs to drop the tax. The environment tax trick has turned the environment into an enemy. Green taxes (petrol duty) mean I have to work longer to have thew same disposable income. SO I no longer have time to deal with sorting rubbish for recycling. It now all gets put in the rubbish bin that goes to landfill: glass, newspaper, plastic the whole lot.
Pissing us off in the uk with tax whilst everyone else in the world drives around cheap will lead to more of this.

As of Monday 14th May, the avg pump price for Reg(95r) across the UK, was 95.84p/litre. Diesel stood at 96.79p/litre.

Crude Oil (NW/Europe) closed at $66.03/Bbl (up). The exchange rate was 1.9805 (down) for that days business.

On the Products Market, Raw Petrol closed at 29.20p/litre. Diesel closed at 26.28p/litre. This is before the inclusion of additives or delivery to stations.

The tax burden, carried by both fuels is the highest in the world. Oil companies do not set tax levels, Governments do.

At the moment, minus all taxes. Petrol is cheaper in the UK, than the USA.

ALL OTHER COUNTRIES IN EUROPE DIESEL IS CHEAPER THAN UNLEADED PETROL AND SUBSTANTIALLY CHEAPER THAN UK.WE LIVE IN RIP OFF U.K. AND WHAT IS SUPRIZING WE ALL ACCEPT IT. OIL PRICES ARE DOWN AND THE DOLLAR IN WHICH CURRENCY OIL IS PURCHASED IS IN OUR FAVOUR SO HOW DOES PETROL KEEP GOING UP. GREED?

The Retail price of Petrol is just shy, of what it was a year ago. The Retail price of Diesel is 2p/litre cheaper, than a year ago.

The price of Crude Oil has started to move upward. On the Products Market Petrol and Diesel, continue their climb. It doesn't look good for motorist's.

The only way to bring prices down, is to curtail the use of cars. This can be difficult for many people, but as our favourite Supermarket claims " Every little helps".

We are rapidly reaching the £1 per litre fuel costs. With prices of oil going down diesel and petrol are still going up. Our local Tesco supermarket has been increasing its prices by 1p on an almost daily basis. We have passed on three occasions this week and each time the prices has been increased. Unless motorists do something to hit these greedy suppliers very soon, we are going to be paying very highly for our fuel. I live in a very rural area which I love, but I need my vehicle and the distances between main towns are quite considerable, so any increase in fuel hits me very hard in the pocket. I dont drive a gas guzzling car - mine averages 43 to the gallon so is very economical. These petrol companies and outlets have us over the proverbial barrel and will continue to do so until we find a way of making them reduce their prices.

The reason for the shrinking gap, between the retail price of Petrol and Diesel is quite simple. European Refineries produce more Diesel from a Bbl of Crude Oil than Petrol, and have done for a number of years.

Their American counterparts, produce more Petrol from a Bbl of Crude Oil, than Diesel. American's don't have much time for Diesel Fuelled cars.

Over the past weeks, the demand for Petrol has jumped worldwide. On the Products Market for NW/Europe, Petrol closed at 29.02p/litre, Diesel closed at 26.58p/litre Friday 11th May.

Both prices at the pumps are moving upward, just that petrol is moving the faster of the two. European refineries cannot keep up with "Demand" for Petrol, this creates a "shortage", this in turn creates high prices for the product.

In the USA, where Diesel is normally priced higher than Petrol, a gallon of Diesel is actually 25 cts/Gal cheaper than Petrol. Again, this is refineries not keeping up with demand for the product.

The annual surge in Petrol consumption, during the summer driving season, has begun a little earlier this year. Mainly, because carmakers are flooding the "new" markets with their products.

While this situation remains, the price of both fuels will climb, regardless of the price of Crude Oil. Pump Prices, are being controlled by the Products Market at the moment. Welcome to the world of Global Markets, and their ilk.

I agree with the above comment. If the government don't reduce duty on petrol to maintain at least a 4p gap, I am going to stop recycling my newspapers and burn them instead. Fobbing us petrol owners off will be worse for the environment than treating us fairly ie. taxing us proportiantely to how we pollute.
A part of me thinks this is a deal between car makers and the government:
"Squeeze the petrol owners and force them to buy exactly the same car with a diesel engine costing £2000 more."
The car makers get £1600 more for an engine that costed £90 more to make. (I know they deal with higher pressures and are stronger but how much does an extra 20kgs of aluminium alloy cost - there are cheapo Al-alloy bikes selling for £55 new and they (both makers and sellers) are still making a profit.
The government gets £400 in VAT.
I know diesels are more economical but what you save at the pumps is taken by the car makers instead so it's pointless.

As of yesterday evening (friday) it seems that in the East Midlands petrol costs the same as diesel. What a rip-off not only is burning a litre of petrol always going to be cleaner than burning a litre of diesel, it will release less co2. It has LESS ENERGY in it per litre so we ARE BEING RIPPED OFF by the oil companies who think they can getting away with overpricing an inferior good.
The government should realise that petrol is more eco-friendly than diesel and maintain the gap by cutting petrol duty.
Diesel has over 10% more energy per litre so if diesel costs 95p/litre then petrol should cost 87p/litre.
I WILL NOT BUY FROM ANY GARAGE CHARGING THE SAME FOR BOTH IF I CAN AVOID IT - OTHER PETROL OWNERS JOIN ME IN THIS. Especially tesco who sell dodgy petrol that either lacks additives or are flooded in them (silicone incident) and charge the same as elsewhere.

carbon particulaly co2 is a green gas it is part of a complicated earth formular that without it we would not have trees grass seaweed and many other organic life forms consequently in 10000+ years time we will have no fuel then.solution keep on at current levels plant more carbon locking plants/life forms.

If your employer, pays less than 40p/mile. The difference is claimed using "Mileage Allowance Relief". There is no lower limit.

This will bring it back to 40p/mile or £4000 per year "Tax Free" for the first 10,000 miles. Different companies do it, different ways, depending on the actual mileage, rather than the "expected" mileage.