In their Q3 results, TravelCenters of America announced retail fuel margins of $.155 for the quarter and $.151 for the 9 month period. For the same periods in 2010 TA retail fuel margins were $.150 and $.136.
Total fuel sales volumes were up 1.8% from 2010 for the quarter and 0.9% for the same 9 months in 2010. The number of company operated stores is at 184, unchanged from 2010.
Retail fuels prices are expected to decline through the rest of 2011, according to today’s Short-Term Energy Outlook report from the US Energy Information Administration.
So far this year, regular unleaded monthly average gas prices have dropped $.46/gallon from their highest point in 2011 back in May, when the average fuel price for that month was $3.91 per gallon. The US monthly average fuel price for regular unleaded in October was $3.45 per gallon.
If the US EIA prediction proves to be true, from a fuels price management perspective these last 7 months of the year offer opportunities for fuel price optimization that will increase fuel margins and increased fuels profitability.
In their Q3 results, ALON USA announced retail fuel margins of $.159 for the quarter and $.167 for the 9 month period.
Average fuel sales per month per store hit 45,000 gallons for the quarter, an increase of 12.5% over the same period last year. ALON USA managed 303 stores throughout the quarter.
The US EIA today reported a third straight week of dropping retail fuel prices. Average fuel prices across the US dropped $.03 across the board for Regular, Midgrade and Premium this week. There were fuel price drops across every US EIA region, with the biggest price drop in the Midwest at $.05 this week. The US EIA report on a state basis showed only California had a price increase for Regular, with a $.01 rise to $3.85 this week.
The US average price for Regular has dropped $.05 per gallon from $3.47 on 10/17/11 to $3.42 today.
Tesoro reported in their Q3 earnings report that retail fuel margins were down $.06 from the same three months in 2010. In 2011 the three months retail fuel margins were at $.16 compared to $.22 for the same period in 2011. For the nine months ended this period, retail fuel margins were at $.18 compared to $.22 from the same nine months in 2010.
The monthly fuel volume per store for these three months was 114,961 gallons. The total number of Tesoro c-stores for this three month period is 1186, up from 880 in 2010.
For the 376 company-operated stores, average fuel sales was 169,326 gallons per month.
According to NACS, the average US c-store sells 121,000 gallons of fuel per month annually. That means over the past three months, Tesoro company-owned stores sold about 40% more than the US national monthly average, while dealer stores sold about 26% less than the US national monthly average.
According to Lundberg Survey, retail fuel margins dropped $.18 over the two week period ending October 7. On October 7, Regular grade retail fuel margins averaged 9.49 cents per gallon across the US.
Pooled retail fuel margin year to date across all fuels sits at 14.73 cents per gallon. That’s the highest retail fuel margin since 2008.
