This is as good a reason as any … diesel fuel is denser than petrol and contains about 15% more energy by volume (roughly 36.9 MJ/litre compared to 33.7 MJ/litre).

The VAT on 5 litres of fuel amounts to less than the VAT on 10 litres of fuel

I know that, the point i’m making is the vat on £1.40 per litre of diesel is more than on £1.30. The OP has basically asked why petrol has recently dropped 8/9p per litre when diesel has stayed the same.

The OP has basically asked ………

The OP asked why is diesel 10p more expensive than petrol. If VAT is the same on both diesel and petrol, then it has nothing to do with VAT.

I give up 🙄

Well since you fell at the first hurdle by apparently not understanding the question, then it’s probably just as well.

The trouble is ernie, the OP fell before even getting to the first hurdle, as his basic assertion is incorrect.

i have no car hence (i done care any more :P) … whatever the answer is, YOU are paying 😀
this is a bike forum, use yer bikes 😉

I’m sure the refining costs of diesel are much cheaper, I don’t know this for a fact as I’m no petrochemicalist but it’s surely easier to crack diesel out of oil than petrol.

Nope, both come in at one end, go up the crude column, go through various other columns depending onthe crude used (bent, texas sweet, etc etc etc) then get sent off for various prcoesses. As a guide the heavier the material (diesels, fuel oils, etc, being heavy, petrol, LPG, LNG being light) the more energy it takes to process it through a hydrocracker (which turns one hydrocarbon into another at really high temperatures and pressures) or hydrotreatment (same principal, but lower temp/pressure just cleans the sulphur from the hydrocarbon rather than cracking it completely).

20+ years ago there could have been almost no hydrotreatment (it’s a process that mainly removed sulphur), but in the last 20 years diesel has required more and more processing to get to the point where it’s almost as clean as petrol, thus it now costs more.

The next big change (IME) will probably be the imposition of the same standards on fuel oils usualy used in ships. As builing a treater to clean fuel oil is prohibitively expensive (it’s used in ships because its cheep, its cheep because theres no other market for it). Ships will use more and more diesel, pushing its price up further, some of the fuel oil will obviously be cracked for diesel, but this is another processing stage and pushes its cost up.

As 5th elephant points out, diesel contains 15% more energy than petrol, so you get more for your money.

Quit moaning!

there is more vat on diesel, as it is more expensive – but thats not the cause of it being more expensive (if diesel is £1.40 a litre whilst petrol is £1.30, the vat paid is 28p instead of 26p). The VAT escalates the cost difference in real terms, but not in comparative terms.

Diesel is comparatively more expensive during the winter as demand for heating oil is higher, which increases demand. The price gap will close again in the spring

Diesel has more energy per litre as said before and also we’re running out of refining capacity for it, whereas there is a surplus of manufacturing capacity for petrol.

It’s a special tax to help pay for the compensation claims made by cyclists brought down by diesel spills.

we’re running out of refining capacity for it, whereas there is a surplus of manufacturing capacity for petrol.

Depends on your POV, in Europe, yes, but worldwide there’s an excess of Diesel as a lot of the world (America) doesn’t use it. So cheep American diesel becomes expensive as it has to be shipped accross the pond.