by John Keller | Jan 27, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
The annual OPIS Retail Year in Review & 2012 Profit Outlook report reveals key fuel price management information about the US market.
Chevron achieved the largest premium of all brands with at least 0.5% market share, garnering a 3.42 cents per gallon premium to typical competition. That’s a 10% increase from 2010.
Shell maintained the lead in overall market share, with BP ranking second. Both brands saw a drop in their market share in 2011.
Regular Unleaded grade gas had the highest percentage ever of fuel sold among the two or three street grades. The price of Premium widened from Unleaded with a spread of $0.27 per gallon over Unleaded by the end of 2011. Exxon had the largest spread for Premium with $0.286 spread over Unleaded.
by John Keller | Jan 26, 2012 | Retail Fuel Margins
Today Murphy Oil announced in their quarterly financial results that for the quarter ending December 31, 2011, retail fuel margins were $.130 per gallon. That’s up from $.074 for the previous year’s results for the same period.
For the year ending December 31, 2011, retail fuel margins were at $.156 per gallon, compared to $.114 for the previous year.
by John Keller | Jan 26, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Retail Fuel Margins
Texas A&M professor of economics and fuel analyst of 30 years John Moroney says fuel prices may or may not hit $4/gallon this summer, and are unlikely to hit $5. “Could gas go to $4? It is possible, but not a certainty. Could it go to $5? I just don’t see it happening.”
Professor Moroney said that in order for fuel prices to reach $5/gallon, oil prices would need to be in the range of $140-$150 a barrel. And with oil production on the rise, including findings of huge oil reserves in recent years, and the increase of shale production, Professor Moroney doesn’t see that happening.
You may find the original interview at theeagle.com here.
by John Keller | Jan 25, 2012 | Industry News
For the year ended December 31, 2011, Hess Corporation saw their average fuels volume per retail store fall 2% compared to the previous year. According to their estimated 2011 financial results for the fourth quarter released today, average fuels volume per retail store was 195,000 gallons per month for the year, compared to 199,000 gallons per month for 2010.
The report also showed company operated Hess convenience store revenues were down 2% from the previous year.
According to NACS, the average US c-store sells 121,000 gallons of fuel per month annually. That means Hess company-owned stores sold about 61% more than the US national monthly average. Clearly, with Hess being a refining company, their fuel price management strategy is to focus on high volumes of fuel.
Mastercard is reporting overall fuel demand in the US is down 1.6%, so Hess volumes dropped slightly faster than the overall market, meaning Hess company stores lost retail fuels market share in 2011.
by John Keller | Jan 10, 2012 | Customer News, Industry News
Fikes Wholesale, Inc., long time PriceAdvantage customer, has added 63 more stores to their CEFCO chain, bringing their total store count to 257 stores in seven states. When Fikes first rolled out PriceAdvantage it was to all the 123 stores in their chain. The Fikes fuel price management team quickly saw the benefits of PriceAdvantage as they were able to optimize fuel prices more quickly, reviewing and sending prices to all stores in less than one hour where it once took most of the morning.
Since rolling out PriceAdvantage, Fikes has grown their store count significantly, acquiring 69 stores from the Food Fast chain, two stores from another chain, and then 63 Taylor Food Mart stores.
The PriceAdvantage team is proud to support Fikes in their success.
