A read an article awhile back describing two industrial methods of getting the gas, diesel, kerosene and other fractions from a barrel of oil. I don't recall the details other than the method used in the U.S. generated less diesel from a barrel of oil than the other method, which is common in Europe. Moreover, the ability to convert from one method to another is limited. Given (1) that constraint (2), the fact that the last U.S. refinery was built in 1979 (according to the article) and no new one is likely to be built any time soon, and (3) demand for diesel is increasing, this suggests that diesel will keep going up.
We lived in San Diego in the late 70s when Mexican diesel was a small fraction of the price of diesel sold at U.S. stations (I think it was about 25 cents a gallon). I used to take our 240D to Tijuana and fill up (it was one of the few instances of a manual transmission Mercedes sedan which made it affordable). I would run into American traveling salesmen waiting in line with Oldsmobile diesels with an extra fuel tank built into their trunks. I stopped doing this about a year into it when I took the car to the dealer for service. While sitting in the waiting room, the service technician brought in a soda bottle filled with what looked like oily root beer mixed with grit. He told me he'd drained it out of my fuel tank and said: "You get your fuel in Tijuana, right?" Between the water, grit, and other trash, there wasn't much actual diesel in the mix. I didn't want that crap running through my engine's fuel injectors so I stopped the trips to Tijuana.
Don
We lived in San Diego in the late 70s when Mexican diesel was a small fraction of the price of diesel sold at U.S. stations (I think it was about 25 cents a gallon). I used to take our 240D to Tijuana and fill up (it was one of the few instances of a manual transmission Mercedes sedan which made it affordable). I would run into American traveling salesmen waiting in line with Oldsmobile diesels with an extra fuel tank built into their trunks. I stopped doing this about a year into it when I took the car to the dealer for service. While sitting in the waiting room, the service technician brought in a soda bottle filled with what looked like oily root beer mixed with grit. He told me he'd drained it out of my fuel tank and said: "You get your fuel in Tijuana, right?" Between the water, grit, and other trash, there wasn't much actual diesel in the mix. I didn't want that crap running through my engine's fuel injectors so I stopped the trips to Tijuana.
Don