question: Why does the price of diesel not fluctuate as much as gas?
comment: Refining costs plus the fact that more people use gas than diesel. Diesel is not used for much more than logistics and heating and heavy industry while gas is used in practically every car. Gas is also harder to refine than diesel.
passages: Balance between supply and demand directly affects the price of gasoline. U.S. consumption of gasoline follows a seasonal pattern, where every year it is more expensive during the summer months when more people are driving. The long-term trend of consumption has been to increase year over year since 1950, with dips around the introduction of corporate average fuel economy standards and the 1979 energy crisis, the early 1990s recession and Gulf War, and the Great Depression.
  
  Section::::Petrol usage and pricing in Europe.
   Diesel is generally simpler to refine from petroleum than gasoline, and contains hydrocarbons having a boiling point in the range of 180–360 °C (360–680 °F). The price of diesel traditionally rises during colder months as demand for heating oil rises, which is refined in much the same way. Because of recent changes in fuel quality regulations, additional refining is required to remove sulfur, which contributes to a sometimes higher cost. In many parts of the United States and throughout the United Kingdom and Australia, diesel may be priced higher than petrol. Reasons for higher-priced diesel include the shutdown of some refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, diversion of mass refining capacity to gasoline production, and a recent transfer to ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), which causes infrastructural complications. In Sweden, a diesel fuel designated as MK-1 (class 1 environmental diesel) is also being sold; this is a ULSD that also has a lower aromatics content, with a limit of 5%. This fuel is slightly more expensive to produce than regular ULSD.
   Section::::Fuel prices in the United States.:Taxes.
  
  Taxes are the next biggest contributor to gasoline prices at around 12%. In the United States, both state and federal taxes apply to gasoline. In addition, other taxes may be placed on gas including applicable state sales taxes, gross receipts taxes, oil inspection fees, underground storage tank fees and other miscellaneous environmental fees.
  
  Section::::Fuel prices in the United States.:Marketing and distribution.
   Distribution and marketing makes up the remaining 5%. The price of transporting crude oil to a refinery then gasoline to a point of distribution is passed on to the consumer. In addition the price to market the fuel brand is passed on.
  
  Section::::Fuel prices in the United States.:Other factors.
  
  Aside from this breakdown, many other factors affect gasoline prices. Extreme weather, war or natural disaster in areas where oil is produced can also in turn raise the price of a gallon of gasoline. Legislation by several states for cleaner burning fuel also affects certain areas' prices of gasoline.
   Competitive petrol pricing in the UK is led by supermarkets with their own forecourts. Generally each supermarket tends to match the other's prices; the lead players being Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. In recent years the AA has criticized speculators as being the prime reason for fuel fluctuations in the UK.
  
  Section::::Countries with subsidised gasoline.
   After Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, gas prices started rising. They became record high levels. In terms of the aggregate economy, increases in crude oil prices significantly predict the growth of real gross domestic product (GDP), but increases in natural gas prices do not.
  
  After the damages from the hurricanes ran up gas prices. By 30 August, a day after Katrina's landfall, prices in the spot market, which typically include a premium above the wellhead price, had surged past , and on 22 September 2005, the day before Rita's landfall, the spot price had risen to .
   The average price in 2012 was , the highest ever yearly average . , the average price of gasoline was , with New York at for the highest in the US, and Colorado at for the lowest.
  
  Finished motor gasoline amounts to 44% of the total US consumption of petroleum products. This corresponds to . , the cost of crude oil accounted for 62% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline in the United State while refining accounted for just 12%. Taxes and distribution/marketing accounted for 12% and 14% respectively.
   Crude oil is the greatest contributing factor when it comes to the price of gasoline. This includes the resources it takes for exploration, to remove it from the ground, and transport it. Between 2004 and 2008, there was an increase in fuel costs due in large part to a worldwide increase in demand for crude oil. Prices leapt from , causing a corresponding increase in gas prices. On the supply side, OPEC (or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has a great deal to do with the price of gasoline, both in the United States and around the world. The speculation of oil commodities can also affect the gasoline market.
   Section::::Fuel prices in the United States.
  
  In 2008 a report by Cambridge Energy Research Associates stated that 2007 had been the year of peak gasoline usage in the United States, and that record energy prices would cause an "enduring shift" in energy consumption practices. According to the report, in April fuel consumption had been lower than a year before for the sixth straight month, suggesting 2008 would be the first year US usage declined in 17 years. The total annual distance driven in the US began declining in 2006.
   Section::::Petroleums.:Diesel.
  
  Conventional diesel is similar to gasoline in that it is a mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons extracted from petroleum. Diesel may cost more or less than gasoline, but generally costs less to produce because the extraction processes used are simpler. Some countries (particularly Canada, India and Italy) also have lower tax rates on diesel fuels. 
   In the fifteen years prior to the 1973 oil crisis, gasoline prices in the U.S. had lagged well behind inflation.
  
  Section::::Fuel prices in the United States.:Crude oil.
   The usage and pricing of gasoline (or "petrol") results from factors such as crude oil prices, processing and distribution costs, local demand, the strength of local currencies, local taxation, and the availability of local sources of gasoline (supply). Since fuels are traded worldwide, the trade prices are similar. The price paid by consumers largely reflects national pricing policy. Some regions, such as Europe and Japan, impose high taxes on gasoline (petrol); others, such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, subsidize the cost. Western countries have among the highest usage rates per person. The largest consumer is the United States, which used an average of 368 million US gallons (1.46 gigalitres) each day in 2011.
   In some countries, diesel fuel for agricultural vehicles or domestic use is taxed at a much lower rate than that for other vehicles. This is known as dyed fuel, because a coloured dye is added so it can be detected if used in other vehicles (e.g. a red dye in the UK, a green dye in Ireland). Nevertheless, the saving is attractive enough to make a black market in agricultural diesel. In 2007 it was estimated that £350 million was not gained in profit as a result of this phenomenon, in the UK.
   The UK average petrol price as of 11 January 2016 is £1.01 per litre. This is slightly above the European average but is 30p lower than the peak in 2014. With declining oil prices, it has been suggested petrol could fall to 86.9p per litre if oil prices fall to $10 a barrel. Average diesel prices are currently £1.03 per litre. The minimum petrol price available is 99.7p and £1.03 for diesel. The minimum across Europe is 87.9.
  
  Section::::European comparisons.:Aviation.
   In much of Europe, including the UK, France and Germany, filling stations operated by large supermarket chains usually price fuel lower than stand-alone filling stations. In most of mainland Europe, sales tax is lower on diesel fuel than on petrol, and diesel is accordingly the cheaper fuel: in the UK and Switzerland, diesel has no tax advantage and retails at a higher price by quantity than petrol (offset by its higher energy yield).
  
  In 2014, according to Eurostat, the mean EU28 price was 1.38 €/L for euro-super 95 (gazoline), 1.26 €/L for gazole (for diesel car).
   After a large increase until the summer of 2008, the end of 2008 experienced a strong decline linked with a sharp economic downturn, with the average price of fuel in the US at (29 December 2008). However, the price of fuel in Europe is still more than double the US price at . Russia and some neighboring countries have a much smaller tax, with fuel prices similar to the US.
   The market of MDO is much smaller than on-highway diesel. According to the a 2004 U.S. Diesel Fuel Sales statistics from U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Marine shipping only takes 3.7% of total diesel market. On the other hand, On-highway diesel takes up 59.5% of diesel fuel sales. This small sales share of MDO is due to the high proportion of petroleum resid that made it can be used on large marine engines. According to Chevron, petroleum resid, or inorganic salts, in the fuel result in injector tip deposits that prevent the injector from creating the desired fuel spray pattern. But those low-speed, large marine diesel engines are appropriate for using fuel containing large amounts of petroleum resid.
   Most diesel fuels freeze at common winter temperatures, while the temperatures greatly vary. Petrodiesel typically freezes around temperatures of −8.1 °C (17.5 °F), whereas biodiesel freezes between temperatures of 2° to 15 °C (35° to 60 °F). The viscosity of diesel noticeably increases as the temperature decreases, changing it into a gel at temperatures of −19 °C (−2.2 °F) to −15 °C (5 °F), that cannot flow in fuel systems. Conventional diesel fuels vaporise at temperatures between 149 °C and 371 °C.
   BULLET::::- Who is in the Oil Futures Market and How Has It Changed?, by Rice University's Baker Institute For Public Policy
  
  BULLET::::- FAQs about gas prices at FuelEconomy.gov by the US Dept. of Energy
  
  BULLET::::- Factors affecting gas prices (US Dept. of Energy)
  
  BULLET::::- Understanding Gasoline Prices - 2005 report from the United States Government Accountability Office
  
  BULLET::::- AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report
  
  BULLET::::- US EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Report US Energy Information Administration
  
  BULLET::::- Current Gas Prices in the US
  
  BULLET::::- Recent historical gas prices in the US at GasBuddy.com
  
  BULLET::::- 2012 NACS Retail Fuels Report 
   In addition to a suitable quantity of feedstock, the price spread between the value of alkylate product and alternate feedstock disposition value must be large enough to justify the installation. Alternative outlets for refinery alklylation feedstocks include sales as LPG, blending of C streams directly into gasoline and feedstocks for chemical plants. Local market conditions vary widely between plants. Variation in the RVP specification for gasoline between countries and between seasons dramatically impacts the amount of butane streams that can be blended directly into gasoline. The transportation of specific types of LPG streams can be expensive so local disparities in economic conditions are often not fully mitigated by cross market movements of alkylation feedstocks.
   Synthetic diesel fuel by pyrolysis of organic materials is not yet economically competitive. Higher efficiency is sometimes achieved by flash pyrolysis, in which finely divided feedstock is quickly heated to between for less than two seconds. 
  
  Syngas is usually produced by pyrolysis.
  
  The low quality of oils produced through pyrolysis can be improved by physical and chemical processes, which might drive up production costs, but may make sense economically as circumstances change. 
   BULLET::::- since the production price refers only to the cost prices and profit yields for newly produced outputs, the current production price can be definitely calculated only after (or on the assumption that) the newly produced output is sold, and when the total turnover is known.
  
  Section::::Production prices and the transformation problem.:Statics and dynamics.:Competition dynamics.
   The price of gasoline based on the official USD to IRR rate is 0.29 USD/Litre in 2018 which is the second cheapest price in the world after Venezuela.
  
  Section::::Countries with subsidised gasoline.:Nigeria.
   Section::::Countries with subsidised gasoline.:Venezuela.
  
  Today, PDVSA, Venezuelan state-owned company, spends US$1.7 billion in direct costs of importation of gasoline, and subsidizes all sales of gasoline in the internal Venezuelan market. The sale price of gasoline is US$0.015 per liter, on a fixed price in the local currency that has been in effect since 1997. Given the low price of gasoline, it is distributed free of charge to gas stations.
  
  Section::::Countries which had formerly subsidised gasoline.
  
  Section::::Countries which had formerly subsidised gasoline.:Indonesia.
   BULLET::::- market for petroleum in question is small compared to market for crude oil (in terms of quantities sold / bought), so that downstream prices cannot drive upstream prices;
  
  BULLET::::- in the short run, only crude oil prices drive petroleum prices (i.e., prices of other inputs are assumed to be constant);
  
  BULLET::::- no substitutes to petroleum are available in the short run.
  
  Given the above, one might expect that:
  
  BULLET::::- increases and decreases in crude oil prices trigger appropriate changes downstream;
  
  BULLET::::- resulting changes are symmetric in terms of absolute size / timing.
  