Why fuel oil costs so much

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the info, Dale.

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Dale

Why so much

Sort of off topic. Musky fishing in Canada all last week, lot's of no fish time. Guy I was with has been an oil refinery person for 30 years, so I had to ask, why is diesel fuel (heating oil) so high priced compared to gasoline? First of course is price of crude for both, then 2 things specific to fuel oil, refiner makes more profit on gas than fuel oil so process is maxed to gas. Second, fuel oil used to have 4000 ppm or so depending on crude source of sulfur, then went to low sulfur, 400ppm, now ultra low sulfur is mandated 30 ppm. How is this done, by massive amounts of hydrogen added to the fuel stream which makes hydrogen sulfide which is then removed. Where does the hydrogen come from, from massive amounts of natural gas which is CH4 where the carbon is stripped from the hydrogen. So, the natural gas is the major added cost in the DDU, diesel desulfurization unit. The DDU itself costs many many millions to build. Good news, oil heat is now much less sooty. And, we did boat a 42 and a 44". Raised several 50"s.