ik04

Price gouging.

Untertürkheim

I doubt it will happen soon. First, the percentage and number of diesel passenger cars in the US is painfully low, so there is no consumer "pull" for development and innovation of diesel.

Second, Americans are much less likely to spend money on premium automotive products vs. Germans (as of now, the only market GTL diesel is sold in). Germans will pay more for a better product (Shell V-Power gasoline is 100 octane). Think of all the people pumping regular into their cars that require premium, or complaining about paying for synthetic motor oil.

Simply put, there market conditions in the US are far from convincing for Shell to bring an ultra premium diesel. Same reason many areas in Europe do not get the product.

scottybdiving

Finally, the national average price of diesel fell .025 in the last week from 4.187 to 4.162. It varied from .01 to .04 depending on the region. Maybe it is the beginning of a downward trend since fuel oil demand should be going down. Too bad the price of oil is still climbing.

scottybdiving

So much for conventional wisdom. The price has risen by ???? .30, .40, .50 since my last post. Maybe the hedge fund investors will grow tired of manipulating the prices and we can get back to normal ......... whatever that is now.