Today’s fuel price musings - Now we wait

September 16th, 2008 at 07:08pm Thomas V. Bona

Just passing the time, waiting for gasoline supplies from the Gulf Coast to get back on track so we can see some real relief at the pump.

Was on an enlightening teleconference today with Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service,  about the effects of Hurricane Ike. He said, of the fact that refineries and pipelines were shut down, “A pipeline is like the aorta. That aorta hasn’t been pumping much blood here.”

Later, on his blog, he had the quote of the day:

Everyone loves to demonize members of the gasoline supply chain.  If you listen to motorists talk about gasoline prices, you might conclude that gasoline marketers not only club baby seals, they urinate on them after the deed is done.

Wholesale gas prices out of Chicago increased this morning, OPIS reported. No word yet on how they closed, or what oil companies are charging retailers for the stuff.

Road Ranger’s Web site lists its Rockford prices as down to $4.09 a gallon. I’m sure others are down there, too, but I’m not out on the street.

Here’s what the price situation for the metro area, state and nation was as of this morning (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):

Gasoline: Rockford increased three cents to just under  $4.20 a gallon since Monday morning. That’s less than a cent off the all-time record, but hopefulyl it’s also the high-water mark. We have the second-highest gas prices in the state. The Illinois average rose two cents to $4.18, seven cents off its record. The national average rose a penny to $3.85, reflecting how we’re being hit harder than most of the country. Illinois has the fourth-highest gas prices in the nation. Other top states are always-high Alaska ($4.40) and Hawaii ($4.31), Midwestern states Michigan ($4.19) and Indiana ($4.17, a record for the lower-taxed state) and Southeastern states Georgia ($4.16, South Carolina ($4.10), Tennessee ($4.09), North Carolina ($4.08), Alabama ($4.05), Kentucky ($4.03) and West Virginia ($4.01). Shows where the pain is, right up a line from the hurricane north.

Diesel: Rockford increased a cent to $4.10 a gallon. We have the seventh-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average increased a a cent to $4.30. The national average increased a fraction of a cent to remain at  $4.19. Illinois the 11th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).

Entry Filed under: Fuel price musings