by John Keller | Mar 10, 2011 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Retail Fuel Margins
Delek US Holdings in their management reports revealed their retail fuel margin results for Q4 2010 and for the entire 2010 fiscal year.
Retail fuel margins for the fourth quarter were 13.1 cents per gallon, versus 12.9 cents in the fourth quarter of 2009. Retail fuel volumes for Q4 decreased approximately 5 percent from the same quarter a year ago to 103.1 million gallons. But with the decrease in the average number of stores from 450 to 417, that equates to 82,333 gallons per store per month on average, slightly up from last year.
Management reported Retail Fuel margins for the entire 2010 fiscal year hit $.161 per gallon, compared to $.136 per gallon in FY2009. The annual fuel volume per store per month was 82,500 gallons. According to NACS, the average c-store sells 121,000 gallons of fuel per month annually. That means Delek stores sold about 30% less than the national monthly average.
Delek closed the fiscal year with 412 sites in operation throughout Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia. Sites are branded under the name MAPCO Express®, MAPCO Mart®, East Coast®, Fast Food and Fuel™, Favorite Markets®, Delta Express® and Discount Food Mart™.
by John Keller | Mar 7, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
In today’s US Energy Information Adminstration weekly fuel price report, the USEIA revealed another $.14 increase. The US national average retail fuel price of unleaded gasoline now sits at $3.52/gallon, a gallon of midgrade rose to $3.63, and a gallon of premium rose to $3.75.
Following last week’s price increase, fuel prices have now risen $.34 in two weeks.
The regional areas of New England and the Gulf Coast both saw the average gallon of unleaded fuel rise $.16/gallon. The lowest increase of any region was $.11 in the Rocky Mountains, which continues to have the lowest fuel prices in the nation, where a gallon of unleaded is $3.29.
As for individual states, Texas had the largest fuel price increase of the week, where prices rose $.17/gallon for unleaded, with an average price of $3.40/gallon.
In Los Angeles and San Francisco, a gallon of Unleaded is priced at $3.89 and $3.91 per gallon. Premium is priced above $4.00 in both cities, at $4.09 and $4.11/gallon.
by John Keller | Feb 28, 2011 | Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Retail fuel prices rose by $.20/gallon since last week, according to today’s US Energy Information Administration report. The US national average retail fuel price of unleaded gasoline spiked to $3.38/gallon, a gallon of midgrade rose to $3.49, and a gallon of premium rose to $3.62.
Fuel prices have risen 10 of the past 11 weeks, but the increase this week is four times any increases seen the previous 11 weeks. The fuel price increase this week is the largest since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, when the refinery output in the Gulf was disrupted.
The largest fuel price increases were in the Midwest, where the average gallon of unleaded gas rose 22 cents to $3.36/gallon. The smallest fuel price increases were in the Rocky Mountain region, where unleaded rose $.11 to $3.23/gallon. As for individual states, Ohio had the largest fuel price increase of the week, where prices rose $.30/gallon for unleaded, with an average price of $3.37/gallon.
In Los Angeles and San Francisco, a gallon of Unleaded is priced at $3.73 and $3.75 per gallon. In San Francisco, Premium is just short of $4.00 at $3.96/gallon.
by John Keller | Feb 21, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
OPIS (Oil Price Information Service) sent an email alert today warning of a $.05 wholesale fuel cost increase expected for February 22, 2011. The complete message is pasted here.
“The peace and calm for marketers who are today observing Presidents’ Day has been interrupted by a paroxysm in global prices for crude and refined products, which almost certainly will add 5cts/gal or more to wholesale prices tomorrow.”
“The New York open outcry markets are closed, but some hefty volumes have changed hands in electronic trading and sent overseas crude prices as high as they’ve been since September 2008, and pushed gasoline and diesel prices up 5- 7cts/gal in the process.”
“Brent crude, which has been the driving force behind NYMEX RBOB and heating oil futures price gains in 2011, traded for over $105/bbl this morning, spurred by violence that appeared to escalate into chaos in Libya. Libya produces some 1.7 million b/d of crude. There are also concerns that violence in the Persian Gulf may be ratcheted higher as unrest in the region shows no completion date.”
“April Brent crude was trading at $104.73/bbl, up $2.21/bbl at presstime. Even higher numbers were seen in electronic WTI action, where the expiring March contract moved up $4/bbl to $90.19/bbl and the April contract (which will soon represent the prompt month) rallied some $4.38/bbl to $94.08/bbl. This latter rally has the interest of technical analysts, who believe it may signal a much larger pop.”
“March RBOB futures were up 5.87cts/gal at $2.61/gal and April (the low RVP month) moved up 5.87cts /al to $2.749/gal. March heating oil was up 6.46cts/gal at $2.7775/gal and April barrels were 6.52cts/gal higher at $2.7912/gal.”
“Most U.S. oil companies are closed today (2/21/11), so OPIS has not yet seen a host of intraday moves. Terminals are quite busy, however, as jobbers race to get ahead of price increases that might add $400-$500 per load when spot markets reopen for business tomorrow.”
From a fuel price management perspective, this is one more indicator that the time is now to invest in fuel pricing solutions that allow for the monitoring of cost changes, competiitor responses, fuel volume actuals vs. targets, strategy review, price optimization, and price change execution, in order to make sure fuel budgets for the year stay on track.
by John Keller | Feb 8, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
Fuel prices increased again, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US national average retail fuel price of unleaded gasoline rose 3 cents to $3.13/gallon, a gallon of midgrade rose 3 cents to $3.25, and a gallon of premium rose 3 cents to $3.37. The previous week showed a one cent decrease, but prices have risen 7 of the past 8 weeks.
Once again the largest fuel price increases were in the Rocky Mountain region, where the average gallon of unleaded gas rose five cents to $2.98/gallon. That region still has the lowest fuel prices in the country, one of only two regions where unleaded remains below $3.00/gallon. The other region below $3.00/gallon is the Gulf Coast, where the average price of unleaded is the lowest in the country at $2.97.
As for individual states, Minnesota had the only fuel price decrease of the week, where prices dropped by $.01/gallon for unleaded, with an average price of $3.13/gallon. California again has the highest fuel prices in the country where the average price for a gallon of unleaded is $3.39, up three cents from last week.
Chicago was hit with the highest fuel price increase in the country, where the price of unleaded rose seven cents to $3.31/gallon. Los Angelese and San Francisco were the only two cities with prices above $3.40/gallon, both reporting an average price of unleaded at $3.41/gallon.
by John Keller | Jan 26, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
Fuel prices rose again for the eighth straight week, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US national average retail fuel price of unleaded gasoline rose 1 cent to $3.11/gallon, while a gallon of midgrade remained the same at $3.22, and a gallon of premium rose one cent to $3.35.
The largest fuel price increases were in the Rocky Mountain region, where the average gallon of unleaded gas rose two cents to $2.91/gallon. That region still has the lowest fuel prices in the country, one of only two regions where unleaded remains below $3.00/gallon. The other region below $3.00/gallon is the Gulf Coast, where the average price of unleaded is $2.96.
As for individual states, Minnesota had the largest fuel price increase of the week at $.07/gallon for unleaded, with an average price of $3.16/gallon. Ohio led the states with the largest unleaded fuel price decrease, dropping four cents to $3.06/gallon. Texas was the only other state with a reported price decrease, where unleaded fuel dropped a penny to $2.95/gallon. California again has the highest fuel prices in the country where the average price for a gallon of unleaded is $3.35, up one cent from last week. New York state remains the second highest priced, where a gallon of unleaded is up a penny to $3.34/gallon.
Chicago reported the only local fuel price decrease in the country, where the price of unleaded dropped two cents to $3.22/gallon. Denver had the largest increase of any city in the country, where the price of unleaded rose four cents to $2.94/gallon.
