For as long as the prices of crude oil and the demand for distillate fuels are maintained at a high level, the retail diesel fuel prices will in most likelihood be high, too. The Energy Information Association (EIA) has released a report on what is likely to happen for remainder of 2008 and 2009 for the United States. It states that the national average retail prices for diesel fuel will reach its highest point during the third quarter of 2008 then it will decline by the fourth quarter of 2009.
Being a highly complex fuel, diesel fuel's chemical structure changes from the time it leaves the refinery to the time it is pumped into holding tanks and fuel station to the time it gets pumped into the vehicle. Oxidization and structural changes occur in the fuel molecules. The energy per unit volume of the fuel can change during this phase, and this is what will cause your engine to have poor performance.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for diesel fuel sulfur content can also alter the prices for diesel fuel. What needs to be taken into consideration is the logistics of delivery of the Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel to retail service stations. Most of these products are transported via pipelines to reach the bulk terminals then to tanker trucks then finally to the retail stations. Contamination may happen to the ULSD fuel because these pipelines, storage, and local distribution systems also serve to deliver other diesel fuels and petroleum products, which have higher sulfur content.
Diesel fuel has more energy per gallon as compared to gasoline. The three types of diesel fuel are 1D, 2D, and a combination of the two. The lighter grade is 1D, and it offers less energy than 2D. It is more commonly used to reduce, if not eliminate, the gelling of fuel during cold winter climates; some people combine it with 2D.
The cetane rating denotes the diesel fuel's ignition quality. The higher the rating, the easier the fuel burns evenly and the more power is produced. The average diesel fuel is at the 40-cetane level. Large diesel trucks and diesel pickup trucks prefer a cetane rating in the 45- to 50- level; this is considered as the premium diesel. However, this is not a general categorization'that is, the state's regulations will dictate at which cetane rating is diesel fuel considered premium.
The West Coast countries also have higher prices for diesel fuel because they have relatively fewer supply sources. Because majority of the refineries in this region are located in California, a single refinery that encounters difficulties in operations will greatly affect the diesel supply. In turn, this may elevate the prices because there will be fewer supply to meet the high demand. More so, the West Coast is very far from the Gulf Coast and other foreign refineries'that is.
Knowing these drivers, and just what this resource is all about, allows consumers to better appreciate the dynamics of the energy industry. They will also be able to use their common knowledge of market dynamics in order to predict or protect themselves from diesel fuel prices inflation. And how will this effect our right to
buy car cheap insurance!
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