Archive for August, 2008
August 29th, 2008
Sorry to go a few days without a post. It’s been a crazy time over there. Though, not as crazy as down in the Caribbean and Gulf Coast. I wish those folks the best as they cope with Gustav - it’ll do more to them than raise fuel prices
Now, for those of us monitoring gas prices - the worst-case scenario appears to be $5 a gallon briefly, according to one analyst. But he seems to be the only one going so high. (He also says gas prices spiked from “just over” $2 a gallon to $3 back when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit three years ago, but the data I have from AAA shows gas prices went from $2.60 a gallon when Katrina formed to a peak of $3. And by mid-October, prices were back to pre-Katrina levels. Maybe I’m missing something.)
Bottom line - gas prices will go up. Oil infrastructure is already being preemptively shut down in the Gulf, which causes a strain on supply. We’ll see what happens.
Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have.
Here’s the price situation as of this morning (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: increased almost a cent to $3.77 a gallon. We’re down to fifth in the state in gas prices. The Illinois average increased a cent to $3.86. The national average increased a cent to $3.67, its first increase in 43 days. Illinois has the eighth-highest gas prices in the nation.
Diesel: Rockford increased less than a cent to $4.17 a gallon. We have the fifth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped less than a cent to $4.35. The national average dropped half a cent to $4.27. Illinois has the 16th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
August 18th, 2008
Nothing insightful to say today. Try me tomorrow.
Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have.
Here’s the price situation as of this morning (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped just over a cent to $3.85 a gallon, almost back to where we were the end of last week. We’re up to second in the state in gas prices (something must have happened in the wholesale markets around here). The Illinois average dropped about a cent to $3.93. The national average dropped a cent to $3.74. Illinois increased to the eighth-highest gas prices in the nation.
Diesel: Rockford dropped two cents to $4.23 a gallon, down 59 cents from a month ago. We have the second-lowest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped two cents to $4.45, down 40 cents in the past month. The national average dropped two cents to $4.39, down 45 cents in the past month. Illinois has the 16th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
August 14th, 2008
Yesterday’s rise in oil prices doesn’t seem to have affected gas prices. And today, oil inched back down a bit. Could be something to this whole “demand destruction” thing.
Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have.
Here’s the gas prices situation as of this morning (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped two cents to $3.83 a gallon, down almost 38 cents from the record high July 16. We’re third in the state in gas prices (but some others are gaining on us). The Illinois average actually rose almost a cent to $3.93, still down almost 33 cents from the record high July 17. The national average dropped a cent to $3.78, down almost 34 cents from the record high July 17. Illinois increased to the 11th-highest gas prices in the nation.
Diesel: Rockford rose more than a cent to $4.34 a gallon (diesel continues to be the contrarian). Still, it’s down 49 cents from a month ago, when prices were on the uptick. We now are tied with the second-lowest diesel prices in the state (Bloomington and Springfield, seeing yesterday’s post, revised their prices to screw us. I’m sure of it!) The state average dropped just over a cent to $4.53, down 32 cents in the past month. The national average dropped almost three cents to $4.47, down 36 cents in the past month. Illinois has the 18th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
August 14th, 2008
So Patrick Swayze has been filming scenes for his new A&E series, “The Beast” at Gary/Chicago International Airport.
I can see the airport using this in a new marketing push:
- “Fly Gary: You’ll have the time of your life!”
- “Nobody puts Gary in a corner.”
- “Gary: The love inside, you take it with you.”
- “Gary: Our airport’s cleaner than the bar in Road House”
August 13th, 2008
Just a quick report today. I’m behind because I spent the day learning about natural gas. Apparently I’m the “if it smells funny” reporter…
Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have. And please don’t put false prices there, Belvidere hasn’t seen gas for $3.40 in a while.
Oil went up to $116 a barrel. We’ll see where it takes gas tomorrow. Here’s the situation as of this morning (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped a cent to $3.85 a gallon, down almost 36 cents from the record high July 16. We’re third in the state in gas prices. The Illinois average dropped a cent to $3.92, down 33 cents from the record high July 17. The national average dropped more than a cent to $3.79, down 33 cents from the record high July 17. Illinois has the 12th-highest gas prices in the nation (including the District of Columbia).
Diesel: Rockford dropped four cents to $4.33 a gallon, down 48 cents in the past month. We now have the lowest diesel prices in the state (betcha wish you got that Volkswagen, huh?). The state average dropped almost a cent to $4.54, down 31 cents in the past month. The national average dropped two cents to $4.50, down 33 cents in the past month. Illinois has the 21st-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
August 13th, 2008
Allegiant Air won’t be flying for Apple Vacations this winter, but it’s not a big deal for the airline.
As we first reported today, AeroMexico will take over Apple’s Rockford-Cancun flights this winter. Apple basically sets up the vacation packages and then charters planes through other carriers to fly places. Allegiant Air had been doing the route, and other business for Apple.
Allegiant spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said, basically, there was a communication issue in the bidding process and their bid wasn’t considered this time around. But it’s not a big deal, as Allegiant has other opportunities to fly its planes. Its contracted business only accounts for 10 percent of its passenger loads, and Apple is only one of its contracts, so it’s not a big loss.
Also, it doesn’t mean anything about Allegiant’s operation at Rockford. Allegiant had contracts at multiple airports for Apple, and neither side was trying to stop working together … it was just one of those things.
Keep watching BusinessRockford.com, we hope to have more news about AeroMexico here
August 13th, 2008
Jason Duffy, better known to Passenger Seat faithful as ANCJason, has been the most prolific commenter since this blog started. Because of his interest and insight, and because he’s moving to Rockford next year, I asked him to be our first-ever guest blogger. He’ll post a few items in the coming weeks.
Jason is a native of McHenry, and has family members that have lived in the Rockford-Belvidere area. He’s also lived in Lake Geneva, Wisc., and California. He’s a student at University of Alaska Anchorage (hence the ANC) studying aviation.
It’s a real privilege to be a guest blogger. I have only been a participant of Thomas Bona’s blog for a short time, and I have enjoyed his insight into the industry and its local/regional applications immensely.
My name is Jason Duffy, and I am two calculus classes and a physics class away from receiving an AAS in Aviation Administration and a BS in Aviation Technology – Management from the University of Alaska Anchorage. I am married and have a perpetually energetic 19-month old son who is vaguely aware that he has a sibling arriving next March. I presently work as an Operations Intern at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Since graduating high school, I have about six years of occupational experience in the aviation industry. Working at the airport, coupled with regular visits to the forums on airliners.net has enabled me to learn quite a bit about the airline industry as a whole.
I have been interested in aviation since the age of five. I can remember going to O’Hare to pick up relatives flying in, and my father and I would debate on whether the plane that had just flown overhead on final approach was a DC-10 or an L1011 (to this day I’m sure that I was right). I can also remember visiting my grandparents who lived just off of Harrison Avenue, and hearing the prop planes fly overhead. My grandmother always kept up with what was going on at the airport, and she used to tell me what airlines flew to Rockford, such as Mississippi Valley, Ozark, etc.
After four years in the Navy and six years in the Army National Guard, I decided to move to Alaska from Northern California to study aviation management because its exposure to the industry is second to none. Within five miles of where I sit here in Anchorage is one of the world’s busiest cargo airports, one of the busiest general aviation airports in the U.S., the world’s busiest seaplane base, and one of the most critical military installations in the world. On a daily basis I get to see a Piper Super Cub, a Boeing 747, and a C-5 Galaxy share the same airspace in the same line-of-sight.
I will be leaving Alaska and moving to Rockford next year, getting back to family in the area and completing my last math class at Rock Valley. I desperately need to get back to the interstate highway system, significantly less air travel times, butter burgers, and to a Cubs game. The first item on the agenda is to live on freshly picked, straight-outta-Pecatonica sweet corn for a week straight once summer kicks in. Sweet corn is the lobster of the Midwest, you know.
August 12th, 2008
Gas prices should remain just under $3.80 a gallon nationally for the next few months, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. This is the first time the EIA has downwardly revised its projections since I’ve been following its reports, and it’s saying the days of $4 a gallon gasoline may be over for the foreseeable future.
The drop in prices is directly tied to a drop in oil prices. Crude oil has dropped almost $32 - 22 percent - since its high-water mark of $145 on July 3. Gas prices have dropped almost 32 cents nationally - 7.7 percent - from their high mark of $4.11 a gallon on July 17. They’ve dropped almost 35 cents in the Rockford metro area - 8.2 percent - from their high mark of $4.20 a gallon on July 16.
Ah-ha, you might say. That shows that gas stations are ripping us off by not dropping prices as fast as oil is dropping. Well, again, you have to take the long view … gas prices never rose as fast as oil did. Oil is still 63 percent higher than it was a year ago, while gas is up 37 percent nationally and 36 percent locally. What I suspect is happening is that retailers are trying to raise their margins a bit to make up for the bath they were taking in recent months.
Crude oil made up an unheard of 75 percent of the price of gas in June. The percent of what you pay at the pump that goes to distribution and marketing was below 5 percent in May - one of the lowest on record - and has generally been in the single digits. Retailers only get a bit of that, and their margins until recently have been very small … down into the single digits in some places. Basically, the retailers are letting their margins creep back up to old, pre-oil-runup levels, and that’s why prices haven’t fallen as fast. So unless you think retailers have always ripped you off, even when prices were $2 a gallon … can you fairly complain now?
Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have.
Here’s the situation in the metro area, state and nation (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped a cent to $3.86 a gallon, down almost 35 cents from the record high July 16. We’re third in the state in gas prices. The Illinois average dropped more than a cent to $3.93, down 32 cents from the record high July 17. The national average dropped a cent to just under $3.80, down 32 cents from the record high July 17. Illinois has the 12th-highest gas prices in the nation (including the District of Columbia).
Diesel: Rockford dropped three cents to $4.37 a gallon, down 44 cents in the past month. We have the eighth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped more than a cent to $4.55, down 29 cents in the past month. The national average dropped two cents to $4.52, down 30 cents in the past month. Illinois has the 22nd-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
August 11th, 2008
Remember when diesel cost less than gas? (Hint: It was just a year ago, so if you can’t remember it, then you may have more serious problems than this blog can help you with.)
Historically, it turns out that was an anomaly, according to information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and FactCheck.org. It used to be that gasoline was costlier in the summer, but not other times. More often than not, diesel cost more, as shown in FactCheck’s handy chart:
Why is this interesting to me today? Because the gap between diesel and gasoline in Rockford - both as a percentage and as fixed number - is at its lowest February Diesel is 13.7 percent higher than gasoline, which as you can see is still higher than it historically is.What this points out is that the run-up in diesel prices has been harsher than the one in gasoline (Diesel is still 48 percent above a year ago, gasoline is 35.5 percent up). That’s because of a number of reasons - a lot of the growing global demand is for diesel, plus diesel sees increasing environmental regulations on it.As dropping demand sends oil prices falling, it makes sense that diesel is falling faster than gasoline.
Remember to check out our Gas Tracker feature, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have.
Here’s the situation in the metro area, state and nation (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com). Let’s do diesel first for our trucking friends:
Diesel: Rockford dropped almost six cents to $4.40 a gallon, down 41 cents in the past month. We have the eighth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped almost three cents to $4.56, down 28 cents in the past month. The national average dropped two cents to $4.54, down 27 cents in the past month. Illinois has the 22nd-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
Gasoline: Rockford dropped less than a cent to to $3.87 a gallon, down almost 34 cents from the record high July 16. We’re up to third in the state in gas prices, which is the place we used to hold regularly. Could those days be back? The Illinois average dropped less than a cent to $3.94. The national average dropped a cent to $3.81. Illinois has the 12th-highest gas prices in the nation (including the District of Columbia).
August 11th, 2008
Oil is trading for around $113 a barrel, the lowest since early May. The market’s done some weird things lately - in the face of geopolitical things that used to give it fits (Russia v. Georgia, rebels damaging pipelines in Turkey, Iran … breathing the wrong way), it’s tried to rally but instead sees falling prices.
Phil Flynn says the oil market is crumbling. Global demand is dropping, and the other stuff that props up prices fades into the background. Flynn also notes that Chines oil imports were down 7 percent in July.
This bears watching. Can oil approach $100?
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