Diesel was cheaper than gas today...

Haven't seen this in a while:

Your regular gas is about $0.30 higher than Maryland prices. Your diesel is only about $0.10 higher.

Ya, that's Cali for you. And I've seen prices go up about 5% over the last 10 days.

But the interesting thing for me here is that diesel is usually $0.10 more than premium unleaded. And suddenly now it is cheaper.

A station near my office (Citgo) has Premium today for $3.83 and Diesel for $3.93.The gap has been closing in recent weeks...I wonder what summer will bring when Diesel is usually about the same as Mid-Grade.

Here in South Florida diesel is running the same as 93 octane in most places. The difference between the two is usually less than 5 cents a gallon.

Here in NC, it's about 10 cents above 93 @ $4.09. That's high. In the last two years, it's been typically lower than 93. However, they just raised the tax rate on diesel in January...nice.

Probably just cheaper now because the updated(more expensive) diesel has not made it to those pumps yet.

Originally Posted by Snipe656

Probably just cheaper now because the updated(more expensive) diesel has not made it to those pumps yet.

Haven't heard about that. What is the new updated diesel ?

I just meant fuel prices have and are going up. That or those stations simply have probably had to refill their gas tanks sooner than the diesel. When they do refill the diesel then you will see updates pricing. Of course could also be related to some short term locking in on costs.

Originally Posted by Snipe656

I just meant fuel prices have and are going up. That or those stations simply have probably had to refill their gas tanks sooner than the diesel. When they do refill the diesel then you will see updates pricing. Of course could also be related to some short term locking in on costs.

Snipe, I don't think a stations prices change with when they take physical delivery, they go up and down daily, almost hourly, with market prices and what the station next door and down the street is doing.

I doubt the stations pay a fixed price for each delivery, I bet it is indexed on a rolling average or some other type of hedging mechanism so they don't get stuck with expensive gas in their tanks selling at a lower price.

Worth knowing more about.

Anybody on here happen to own a gas station and willing to kiss and tell?

Originally Posted by Flyingman

Snipe, I don't think a stations prices change with when they take physical delivery, they go up and down daily, almost hourly, with market prices and what the station next door and down the street is doing.

I doubt the stations pay a fixed price for each delivery, I bet it is indexed on a rolling average or some other type of hedging mechanism so they don't get stuck with expensive gas in their tanks selling at a lower price.

Worth knowing more about.

Anybody on here happen to own a gas station and willing to kiss and tell?

We used to own one and most all deliveries come in on agreed upon prices that were done I think it was a couple weeks prior to delivery. But then depending on how much traffic the station was getting you might be getting deliveries all the time too. The fluctuation in pricing were often because of "traders" getting scared about something and causing the wholesale cost to spike and having to try and compensate for that on the retail side. The bottom goal though was to try and sell the fuel for as little as possible to get people to go to your station. Because if they go to your station they pay stupid prices for things like a bottle of Coke or a hot dog or a beer and so on. The massive profits were in the items in store and not in the fuel.

I still know someone who owns one and randomly talk to him about it and things don't seem all that different than before. I even recall in the past 2 years him talking about how he got really lucky and locked in on a price right before a spike in the market so for like a week he was getting all sorts of traffic because what he could sell at.

Yes, I did find some good articles about it.

The big boys use some hedging and futures to handle the volatility. The little guys have to grin and bare it.

They go up quickly when they can and drop down slowly. Very competitive as the typical consumer will drive out of his way to save a few cents/gal.

The real money is in the store bought items as you say. I never buy anything in one of those convenience stores, that is robbery!

The prices here on the left coast are rising rapidly! It approaches $5.00 a gallon in some spots, strangly diesel does not seem to be going up so fast here.

Yesterday in PHX; Diesel $3.99 ; Premium $4.07

Some, if not all, gasoline stations simply charge what the market, or competition, will bear. With all the news in the paper about high gasoline prices, and people expecting high gasoline prices, I wouldn't be surprised if some gasoline operators were doing some "pricing to expectations," e.g., the guy down the street raises prices, so the guy up the street does the same and they're both happy. It will be interesting to see where the prices are in a few weeks or so, as if they are doing this, it won't last long.

Diesel was 4.27 and regular was 4.23 at a shell station in San Jose. Happy to see the price. Is it because we are going into summer blend?

aa, fill up your tank now, it has just hit over $5.00 in some SoCal areas so we can't be far behind!

aajax26 - I filled up at a shell in San Jose also today.

I paid $4.27 for diesel, while regular was $4.23, 89 was $4.33. Don't remember was premium was.

In western MD, diesel is running between $3.95 and $4.09. Premium is $3.83(Sam's Club) to $3.99(name brand stations).