by John Keller | May 24, 2011 | Industry News
The American Petroleum Institute reported that in April 2011, total demand for distillate fuel rose 15 percent to 4.27 million barrels a day, while consumption of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel increased 26 percent to average 3.42 million barrels a day.
Gasoline pump prices rose 6.6 percent last month, which slowed demand 2.2 percent to 8.91 million barrels a day from the same month last year.
Fuel demand increased in April as economic growth fueled diesel consumption by truckers, Bloomberg reports.
This article was reported by NACSOnline here.
by John Keller | May 20, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Optimization
The American Petroleum Institute issued a monthly report today. Gasoline deliveries, a measure of gasoline demand, dropped by 2.2 percent compared with last year. Deliveries totaled 8.9 million barrels per day.
Rising retail gasoline prices seem to have crimped consumer demand for motor gasoline in April. Gasoline prices were up by 6.6 percent in April from March, a gain of 24 cents per gallon.
Gasoline production fell for the first time in 2011, down 3.1 percent to 8.8 million barrels per day. This level was still the second highest for gasoline for any April in the past 10 years and the highest on a year-to-date basis.
As Fuel Price Management reviews their fuel volume sales and market share for April 2011, they must keep in mind the potential for an overall decrease in total volume sales for each of their markets.
by John Keller | May 17, 2011 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Technology
A computer glitch was to blame for a Valero convenience store selling premium fuel at $1.10 a gallon over a four hour period on May 15. The owner reported that was over $3 a gallon less than the proper price, and cost him $21,000. Roughly 7000 gallons of premium fuel were sold at that price, and police had to be called in to control the long line of traffic.
According to the Los Angeles c-store owner, the fuel price change didn’t work properly, causing the POS system to set the price to the default of $1.10 per gallon. The attendant on duty at the time was too busy staffing the convenience store and Point Of Sale system to notice the problem.
From a Fuel Price Management lesson-learned perspective, this story highlights the risk of fuel price changes going awry. Without the proper Fuel Pricing Software solution, including the critical Fuel Price Management phases of Change and Confirm, every c-store is at risk of losses like this.
The source of this article may be found here.
by John Keller | May 16, 2011 | Industry News
According to an article on MarketWatch, several companies reported retail fuel sales in April were as much as 4% lower than in March. The article specifically mentions Marathon Oil Corp., Tesoro Corp., and Delek US Holdings, Inc.
High fuel prices were to blame for the drop in fuel volume, according to the company statements. Read the entire article here.
In this shrinking fuel market environment, Fuel Managers must fight for volume market share by investing in fuel price management solutions that allow for constant monitoring of competitor pricing, fuel replacement cost, optimization strategies, volume history vs. target, and price change processes.
by John Keller | May 13, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
There’s a great MSNBC news article out today discussing the role of the US Federal Government in helping fuel prices trend downward. The key takeaway for the Fuel Price Manager is that fuel prices are going to continue their downward trend of recent days. From a Fuel Price Management perspective, that means it’s a critical moment to invest in fuel pricing solutions that allow the continued monitoring of wholesale costs, and the competitor fuel price reaction. As cost drops, now is the time to increase retail fuel profits, while carefully managing the gradual fuel price decreases that the consumer expects.
News agencies are making it common public knowledge that retail fuel prices are quick to rise when wholesale costs increase, and slow to drop when wholesale costs decrease. But these agencies are setting customer expectations for retail fuel prices to drop over the coming months. That means people will be looking for price decreases, and will be quick to jump on them with a fill-up when they see a well-advertised price.
Here are highlights from the article:
- Oil prices have peaked and appear to be coming down.
- After flooding the financial system with cash for more than two years in an effort to stabilize financial markets and economy, the Fed is getting ready to turn off the taps. The anticipation is one reason oil prices are coming back down.
- For all of the complex forces acting on the global oil market, the dollar has a powerful sway for the very simple reason that oil is priced in dollars. The dollar has begun showing signs of strength. Just as a weaker dollar helped send oil prices surging, a stronger dollar is reining them in.
- The forces that drove prices higher seem to have reversed course. Global growth seems to be slowing. The dollar is strengthening. And the inflation threat from the Fed’s easy-money policies may be easing.
- Until the outlook for oil prices becomes clearer, expect more daily price swings that will send even the most seasoned traders looking for cover.
The full article may be found here.
