why is UK diesel so much dearer than petrol?

[tonym911]

These are the per-litre prices in euros of fuel, as of mid May 2011. First figure is for unleaded, second for diesel.

Anybody know why our diesel is so inordinately expensive? Or more to the point, why does the UK Govt punish diesel drivers so much? Only in Norway (where the cost of living is generally considerably higher anyway) is diesel more expensive than here.

Austria 1.45 1.37
Belgium 1.62 1.41
Czech Rep 1.45 1.42
Denmark 1.70 1.46
Estonia 1.24 1.26
Finland 1.59 1.37
France 1.64 1.32
Germany 1.54 1.36
Greece 1.70 1.49
Hungary 1.41 1.40
Ireland 1.51 1.46
Italy 1.56 1.42
Latvia 1.31 1.26
Lithuania 1.22 1.20
Luxembourg 1.33 1.15
Netherlands 1.72 1.36
Norway 1.76 1.64
Poland 1.31 1.28
Portugal 1.61 1.41
Slovakia 1.46 1.36
Slovenia 1.30 1.22
Spain 1.32 1.21
Sweden 1.58 1.51
Switzerland 1.39 1.43
United Kingdom 1.52 1.62

[bobr]

Ignore this. It's all in euros

[sleep envy]

there are fewer refineries geared for diesel in the UK, more and more people buy diesel cars, market forces come into play

[Simbu]

bobr said:

WTF?! 134.9 unleaded and 137.9 for diesel here. Who's paying more than 150ppl?

I assume prices above are in Euros.

[bobr]

Yep I realised

[Hugo a Gogo]

shell near me (düsseldorf) had diesel at 144.9 yesterday
cheapo place had it at 135.9

cheapo netherlands place was 132.9 last week

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_tax#Europe it's all about the tax btw, uk has the same tax on Petrol and diesel

Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Tuesday 14th June 13:16

[EDLT]

The euros have lower tax on diesel, whereas we tax petrol and diesel at the same rate.

[anonymous-user]

Diesel is cheaper to produce than petrol. However, it is a "dirtier" fuel so I would expect this is why the British government can justify making it more expensive. Some rubbish about a green tax or suchlike I would suspect

[Pablo16v]

I think in Holland, while diesel actually costs quite a bit less than petrol, diesel cars are in a much higher road tax bracket.....about 100% higher IIRC from my time living there. My 2.5 petrol 850 Volvo was around €600 / year and the diesel equivalent was about €1400.

[5lab]

I was under the understanding that diesel is *more* expensive than petrol to produce, and both fuels are taxed equally here in the UK. In Europe, Diesel is commonly taxed less, presumably to help out the haulage industry

[anonymous-user]

5lab said:

I was under the understanding that diesel is *more* expensive than petrol to produce, and both fuels are taxed equally here in the UK. In Europe, Diesel is commonly taxed less, presumably to help out the haulage industry

No - it's cheaper to produce. It comes off much earlier in the process than petrol. Much more like a thin oil than petrol.

[Monty Python]

Diesel costs more than petrol because of the extra processing required to meet the current low sulphur regulations. Also, in a lot of European countries, subsidies and tax breaks make diesel artificially cheaper. On top of that, diesel is a commoditiy, and as such is subject to market forces.

[anonymous-user]

5lab said:

I was under the understanding that diesel is *more* expensive than petrol to produce, and both fuels are taxed equally here in the UK. In Europe, Diesel is commonly taxed less, presumably to help out the haulage industry

http://www.petrolprices.com/why-diesel-costs-more-than-petrol.html

[tonym911]

Obviously a less than clear situation about the cost of production but I'm more curious about the relative disparity in petrol-to-diesel prices as displayed here in the UK.

[jj333]

My French brother in law scoffed at my suggestion that he may want to get a petrol car next (but then he is French, so naturally he owns an ancient Citroen BX). I didn't realise why until we pulled into the local supermarket and saw that Diesel was 40c less than Petrol

[RicksAlfas]

jj333 said:

My French brother in law scoffed at my suggestion that he may want to get a petrol car next (but then he is French, so naturally he owns an ancient Citroen BX). I didn't realise why until we pulled into the local supermarket and saw that Diesel was 40c less than Petrol

Just come back from Brittany - 129 for diesel, 155 for unleaded.
Big difference isn't it?

[Lefty]

Old fashioned diesel is very simple to produce and therefore cheap. Modern diesel (which has to meet lots of standards with regards to sulphur content etc) isn't as cheap but is still simpler to refine than petrol.

And, of course, there is more duty on diesel.

[kambites]

Pretty sure duty is the same for unleaded petrol and diesel in the UK. Diesel costs more to produce.

Presumably the duty on diesel is lower than that on petrol in some countries.

[5lab]

bmw535i said:

5lab said:

I was under the understanding that diesel is *more* expensive than petrol to produce, and both fuels are taxed equally here in the UK. In Europe, Diesel is commonly taxed less, presumably to help out the haulage industry

http://www.petrolprices.com/why-diesel-costs-more-than-petrol.html

bmw535i said:

No - it's cheaper to produce. It comes off much earlier in the process than petrol. Much more like a thin oil than petrol.

source? everywhere i can find seems to think fuel duty is the same on both (vat is higher, but thats just based on the final pump price)

http://www.whatgas.com/car-finance/fuel-duty.html

and..

wikipedia said:

From 4th January 2011 the UK duty rate for the road fuels unleaded petrol, diesel, biodiesel and bioethanol is GB£0.5895 per litre (£2.65 per imperial gallon or £2.20 per U.S. gallon).[5] Value Added Tax at 20% is also charged on the price of the fuel and on the duty.

Using the UK average untaxed pump price for unleaded petrol of £0.4572 per litre (from the December 2010 average taxed price of £1.221 per litre,[6] the duty rate of £0.5819 per litre[5] and the then VAT rate of 17.5%) this would give a January 2011 taxed price of £1.256 per litre (£5.71 per imperial gallon or £4.75 per U.S. gallon) - that is equivalent to a tax rate of 175%.

Diesel for use by farmers and construction vehicles is coloured red (Red Diesel) and has a much reduced tax, currently £0.1133 per litre.[5]

Jet fuel used for international aviation attracts no duty, and no VAT.[7]

and also for germany (similar to france in pump prices..)

wikipedia said:

Fuel taxes in Germany are €0.4704 per litre for ultra-low sulphur Diesel and €0.6545 per litre for conventional unleaded petrol, plus Value Added Tax (19%) on the fuel itself and the Fuel Tax. That adds up to prices of €1.03 per litre for ultra-low sulphur Diesel and €1.22 per litre (approximately USD 6.28 per US gallon) for unleaded petrol (March 2009).

it may be cheaper to *produce* but if there's more demand for it, the price will rise. As it is, the base cost of diesel is higher than that of petrol, but tax breaks for diesel in most of Europe supress this

[Lefty]

kambites said:

Pretty sure duty is the same for unleaded petrol and diesel in the UK. Diesel costs more to produce.

Presumably the duty on diesel is lower than that on petrol in some countries.

Diesel shouldn't cost more.

But you're right about duty, 58p/l. My mistake. Used to be different and i'm sure bio diesels used to be much lower than normal diesel.