Diesel fuel, roughly speaking, is a derivative product in the production of gasoline, so it should be a priori cheaper than the latter. However, in modern reality, the opposite is true. Experts identify a number of reasons for this phenomenal phenomenon.
The price of oil products on the European market is determined based on quotations on stock exchanges. Quotes on stock exchanges for diesel fuel are often higher than quotes for AI-95 gasoline. Therefore, companies that are participants in the international market are forced to adhere to global trends. Technologies for obtaining diesel fuel are used at a much lower level than for producing gasoline. Therefore, the price should be lower. But this is the ideal case. In practice, diesel fuel is used much more widely than gasoline. The efficiency of diesel engines is higher. That is why diesel fuel becomes more expensive, bringing maximum profit at minimum costs. Many people explain the high cost of diesel fuel in the country by the fact that large producers sell it abroad, in particular, to China. There is a certain shortage of diesel fuel and gas stations are forced to look for diesel fuel producers in any regions of the country, including significantly remote ones. Then, the purchase price is added to the price of transporting diesel fuel to the filling station, plus various overheads - this leads to the fact that diesel fuel "from the pump" of the filling station suddenly becomes more expensive than AI-95 gasoline. European trends also affect the situation with diesel fuel. In European countries, including those bordering Russia, such as our Baltic neighbors, as well as in Poland and Bulgaria, the price of diesel fuel at filling stations is higher than that of gasoline. Currently, refineries are striving to produce diesel fuel, which complies with the European level of quality, according to the environmental standards Euro-4 and Euro-5, which provide for an ultra-low sulfur content and this also does not reduce its price. Even the climate affects the rise in diesel fuel prices. During very cold winters, diesel fuel becomes more in demand in European countries, therefore, in the Russian market, especially in retail, there is a shortage of winter diesel fuel, which leads to an increase in its price. The reason for the rise in the price of diesel fuel may also be the rise in oil prices; in addition, in 2011 there was an increase in excise taxes on petroleum products.
