According to a report by OPIS, fuel consumption is down 4.5% for the four week period ending June 8 compared to the same period last year.
In addition, OPIS reports the growth of ethanol fuel consumption has stalled, with the number of gallons in 2011 virtually unchanged from 2010.
From a fuel price management perspective, that means fuel volume comparisons should be expected to be less than last year, and ethanol fuel gallons are likely to be flat.
In the Casey’s fiscal report today, the company announced retail fuel margins were at $0.137 per gallon for the quarter, down nearly $0.02 per gallon from last year. But same store fuel gallons sold were up 2.5% over a year ago.
Corporate goals for 2013 include increasing same store fuel gallons sold by 1% with an average retail fuel margin of $0.14 per gallon.
From a fuel price management perspective, it’s clear as the c-store quarterly results come in that last quarter was a tough period for retail fuel margins. Some c-stores managed to weather the storm with solid fuel volume numbers while others did not fare so well.
This balancing act between retail fuel margins and fuel volumes continues to drive the need for a robust fuel price management system that allows you to analyze the market trends, deploy optimized fuel prices quickly, and confirm that the optimized retail fuel prices are really getting to the street.
The US Energy Information Administration reported in their This Week In Petroleum report that in the first quarter of 2012, US drivers consumed 5% less gasoline than in the same quarter of 2007.
In the first quarter of 2007, US drivers consumed just over 9.0 million bbl/d of gasoline. In the five years since, consumption has fallen about 450,000 bbl/d to average less than 8.6 million bbl/d for the first quarter of 2012.
This is the third industry source, after OPIS and MasterCard, to report a decline in fuel consumption.
From a fuel price management perspective, this is yet another indication that the competition for retail fuel sales continues to be intense. Fuel Pricing Software systems are critical for c-stores to achieve their fuel volume goals, whether they be maintaining fuel levels year over year, or gaining market share.
Today the US Energy Information Administration reported in their Short-Term Energy Outlook that they predict retail fuel prices of unleaded regular fuel to average $3.60 per gallon for the April through September season of 2012. That’s a $0.19 drop from the US EIA prediction last month.
Overall for the entire 2012 year, the US EIA predicts unleaded regular fuel to average $3.56 per gallon. That would be a $.03 per gallon increase over the $3.53 per gallon average of 2011.
Earlier this week the US EIA reported the average fuel price for unleaded regular currently stands at $3.57 per gallon.
According to today’s MasterCard SpendingPulse report, US gasoline demand dropped to the lowest levels in five weeks.
Fuel consumption was down 3.5% year over year, the 41st consecutive drop of that measure.