Why does diesel fuel cost more than unleaded fuel for cars?
When crude oil is refined in to fuel there are two main products that come from it at the same time, gasoline and diesel fuel. For every gallon of gasoline that comes out you only get X amount of diesel fuel (I can’t remember what the ratio is right now). Diesel fuel used to be cheap because in the past most vehicles on the road burn gasoline. So there was a lot of extra diesel fuel left over after gasoline was refined. But now there are a lot more diesel burning vehicles on the road and the demand is getting close to exceeding supply. On top of all this in the U.S. Congress past a law mandating the percentage of sulfur in diesel fuel had to be lowered. This went in to effect back in 2007. In order to meet this lower sulfur standard it takes more work in the refining process and therefore cost more to produce. It’s because of several factors that diesel fuel is going for more then it used to.
