Scroll down a bit.
The said unleaded is standard international 95 octane (cf. c. 91 US).
North Americans be quiet about your prices...
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
That's US$7.245 per US gallon by my third grade calculations!
About US$3.30 per US gallon for 91 grade at local (SF Bay Area) station today (diesel about the same price).
Besides, the prices over here are going down. Jim
My last trip was $2.71/gal for premium. I think the local retailers were holding the line on prices given the problems with Katrina recovery. Meanwhile, in Atlanta and untouched, the prices quickly spiked to over $6.00 (still nothing compared to European prices). Go figure.
R / John
Just keep in my the most of what you are paying is taxes. You may feel that that's worth it, but it is still NOT the price of the gas that is your biggest bite at the pump.
Last I heard, the wholesale price of the gasoline itself is around $2 a gallon.
- GRL
Where in the Bay Area?
Everyone else around here has diesel for about the same as premium, ranging from $3.15-$3.40 depending on where you go.
Now, if only biodiesel were cheaper...
Most diesel seems to be about $. 30 less than 87 octane in MD.
Tom
If I send you a bunch of barrels, can you fill them for me and ship 'em back? How much is 87 octane anyway?
(Just kidding, though it'd be nice...)
Roughly $3.15 to $3.35 today - of course it'll change tomorrow! Since I heat with oil, I wonder what that will cost this winter.
Tom
about the same as the diesel
Ok, well that's just ignorant. Federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. State tax ranges from 8 (Alaska) to 32.1 (Wisconson) cents per gallon.
Of course the reason for the high prices in most of the world is taxes. Of course it is just a revenue-raising exercise for governments. But they also encourage more fuel-efficient engines and conservation.
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
Title of the thread involves UK, not US.
Tom
...and the OP suggested that North Americans need not comment, implying that, however high their prices are, they are still low... :-))
But hey, this is free-speech-usenet...
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
So why does diesel cost more than unleaded?
Over here in the UK I think I read that over 70% of the pump price is tax. I wouldn't mind so much if this money went to improving the roads, and public transport so I could have a choice and not drive all the time, but public transport is a joke, and it's still quicker and cheaper for me to drive my car from London to Birmingham than it is to take the train, and that's just a car with one person in it. With passengers it becomes a complete no brainer.
D0d6y.
Here in Vancouver, canola cooking oil is $0.10 cheaper per liter than diesel, filling up in the cooking isle is starting to make sense now.
cp
Brief update from my previous post: I've found a dino-diesel place that's selling for $2.99 USD/gallon. That's relatively good...I'd like to be ~$1/gallon, but it sure beats $3.40.
With straight cooking oil, does it even really need to be filtered, as there's not any residue, right?
I've been looking at doing the vegetable oil thing for a while now, but can't spare the cash to get the second tank and all the work done (and I don't feel comfortable fiddling around with fuel lines to do it myself). Processed biodiesel is available for $3.05/gallon in 55 gallon drums (55 gallon minimum purchase, they'll deliver it right to you) from a place nearby...but with dino-diesel at $2.99, at a pump that's easily accessible...well, it means less hassle for me right now.
Shortage of refinery capacity. Diesel is a lot more popular for private cars now than it was 10-15 years ago.
Have you never thought about the stuff in your frying pan? And at McDonald's, you think nothing falls into the vats?
And detergents maybe?
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
In Britain and other countries the tax levied on diesel is/was different to petrol. Don't know how it is in the UK now, but I would not be surprised if the 'natural' price of diesel were higher because of where it comes out in the refinery fraction and volumes relative to petrol, especially now that the consumption has risen (as John Burns points out).
Ideally the demand pattern should match the production pattern, but it doesn't.
As regards UK taxes I chose my words carefully, saying it is just a revenue raiser. The link between fuel taxes and road building was abolished, I think in the fifties. There never was a link with public transport and, though quite a few people would feel as you do about paying for public transport, I can't see any government hypothecating any taxes in such a way.
The other day I heard on BBC R4 that at 97 p/l there are 47 p tax, so now it is much less than 70%. I think this figure was valid at lower pump prices, as the fixed element ('fuel duty') has not actually risen in recent years.
I wonder if you saw the Top Gear edition in which they reported on new research showing that the energy cost per head in a car was lower than in a train, taking into account typical occupancy rates. I don't know anything about the background, but it would not surprise me if it were true. People never talk about the power stations and their pollution when talking about trains.
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
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