14 November 2013 (08:34 UTC-07 Tango)/10 Muharram 1434/23 Aban 1391/12 Gui-Hai (10th month) 4711

“Idaho just happens to be 20 or 30 cents behind the times.  Supplies are plentiful right now, driver demand is down.  A little profit taking is going on in the marketplace.”-Dave Carlson, AAA Idaho, 04 November 2013 interview with KTVB

The U.S. oil industry is about to retake its number one position in the World market.  Oil production and fuel refining is way up, and gas prices look to be coming down significantly.  But wha’ hoppin’ to diesel?

According to the 12 November diesel fuel retail price report from the U.S. Energy Information Agency, across the country diesel prices are going down.  But from where I can see, in Idaho, there’s a big disparity between gasoline and diesel prices.

In Idaho Falls, on 13 November I noticed gas prices were at an amazing $2.90 per gallon!  However, on the same day in Pocatello they were about $3.30 per gallon.  A 40 cents difference between two cities less than an hour’s drive from each other.

In Idaho Falls diesel prices were about $3.60 per gallon.  But in Boise, on the western side of the state, diesel was just over $4.00!  According to TruckMiles.com, the current average for Idaho diesel is $3.91.

Idaho is in PADD4 Rocky Mountain region.  PADD stands for Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (notice this is a military thing).  U.S. EIA says gasoline prices have dropped 33 cents per gallon since last year.  Diesel dropped 26 cents since last year.

The EIA predicts the average price for diesel, across the U.S., will hit about $3.30 per gallon by the end of the year.  But will that be true for Idaho?  Right now Idaho’s diesel prices are way above the national average, as are Idaho’s gas prices.  But as you read in the above quote, Idaho’s non-profit AAA (formerly known as American Automobile Association) says demand from Idaho drivers is down, and the glut of fuel supply does not justify the above average prices.

For a more graphic look at the past two decades of U.S. diesel retail prices you can view the EIA’s chart here, which shows diesel prices skyrocketing beginning in 2004 (mmm, that’s right after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the U.S. military* is a major user of diesel).    Even though diesel prices have dropped a little since the peak at the end of 2008, they’re still near record highs.

Of interest; California has become such a big user of fuels, and because the NAZI environmental nut jobs running the state have put such refining standards on fuel, that EIA now lists California fuel data separate from the rest of PADD5 (West Coast region).

*According to 2009 numbers the DoD used $13.3 billion worth of fuel. That equates to 360,000 barrels of oil per day, in 2009 dollars! The U.S. military ranks 36th among the top 35 countries (yes, that’s entire ‘countries’) in fuel usage! The U.S. Air Force is the number one user of fuel in the DoD. The jet engine, aka turbine, normally uses kerosene based fuel, but can also use diesel. I know, being a former 19k (& former 19E, 13F, 12B and C-130 Crew Chief) we use diesel in our turbine powered M1 Abrams tanks (the same diesel used in the HUMWV [humvee] and cargo trucks). The M1 gets only 1 mile per 1.6 gallons of fuel!!! We burn more than one gallon for every one mile we drive! Regarding my time in the USAF, the Air Force doesn’t measure fuel by gallons, the aircraft use so much it’s measured in pounds. The latest C-130J cargo hauler uses about 66,000 pounds of fuel to fly about 3452 miles!!!