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 14, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News
Fuel prices increased yet again, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US national average retail fuel price of unleaded gasoline rose 1 cent to $3.14/gallon, a gallon of midgrade was unchanged at $3.25, and a gallon of premium rose 1 cent to $3.38. Prices have now risen 8 of the past 9 weeks.
The largest fuel price increases were on the West Coast, where the average gallon of unleaded gas rose five cents to $3.38/gallon. With the three cent increase in the Rocky Mountain and Gulf Coast regions, the average price for unleaded gas is now above $3.00/gallon in every region of the country. Only the Midwest region saw their average unleaded fuel price decrease, down three cents to $3.09/gallon.
As for individual states, Ohio had the largest fuel price decrease of the week, where prices dropped by $.13/gallon for unleaded, with an average price of $2.99/gallon.
After seeing a seven cent price increase for unleaded the week before, Chicago fuel prices dropped by three cents this week to $3.28/gallon.
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 | Feb 1, 2011 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Valero Energy Corporation announced in their financial results for 2010 that US retail fuel margins for the year were $.140 per gallon, higher than 2009 by $.014. Retail fuel margins for Q4 were at $.086 per gallon, lower by $.026 per gallon than last year’s Q4.
Across their 990 company-operated sites in the US, Valero sold 154,699 gallons per store per month, less than 2009 by just 3132 gallons per month.
Valero is one of the largest retail operators with approximately 5,800 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under the Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar and Beacon brands. Based in San Antonio, Valero is a Fortune 500 company with approximately 20,000 employees.
Read the entire financial report here.
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.