RC51, I'm not sure why it's more expensive.
U.S. refineries produce an average of about 10 gallons of diesel fuel from one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil.
U.S. refineries produce about 19 gallons of motor gasoline from one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil.From what I've heard, gasoline takes more refinement steps to produce, so from my thinking, it would be more expensive than diesel to produce.
All gasoline, when produced is unleaded. Remember leaded gas? Tetrahedral lead was added to gasoline to make "leaded gas". When unleaded gas first hit the market, it was priced at more $ per gallon than leaded gas. In my mind, it was strictly a marketing ploy to make more profit, although I could be wrong.
Then you have your state, local and federal taxes per gallon.
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/industry-economics/fuel-taxes Here in Indiana, according to that website it is .57/gal for gas, .74/gal for diesel.
Taxes, buddy, taxes....trucks pay the way and we pay in higher prices.
My GVW on my new truck is 42,000 pounds...Apportioned License plate for the 18 states I am "authorized to drive in is almost $900/yr, plus I have to track all fuel bought/mileage driven in each state and pay a fuel tax on top of the taxes paid at the pump...states like Kentucky charge every truck entering their fine state, $25 minimum for the privilege to just enter and not even stop, plus, you are rewarded with an extra $.40 per gallon surcharge tax on top of the taxes paid at the pump (based on quarterly fuel mileage reported) for the miles driven in their fine state....And people wonder why a loaf of bread that costs $.15 to bake is $2.50 at the store to buy....
As for the original leaded/unleaded costs, I'm sure it was partially a marketing ploy, but originally, the higher price was needed mostly to cover the huge loans/expense every station had to spend to get new fuel storage tanks buried, new pumps, smaller sized discharge nozzles, hoses, etc that were federally mandated on every fuel station selling gasoline....that is why so many stations closed down during that changeover also...
