Today’s fuel price musings - The Midwest still leads in gas price increases
January 8th, 2009 at 02:23pm Thomas V. Bona
The Midwest is still getting hit harder than the rest of the nation. Another industry source told me yesterday that wholesale prices out of Chicago were 12 cents higher than on the NYMEX, and gas out of Chicago dropped half as much as NYMEX gas yesterday … even though crude fell.
“This tells us that there is a real disconnect between crude and Chicago gas, typically related to supply and refinery margins. I haven’t really looked into this but I think it is all related to reduced refinery runs and demand in the Midwest,” he said.
It’s telling that even though prices in the Rockford metro area rose significantly since yesterday, we went down 10 spaces on the list of U.S. metro areas. Almost half the metro areas above us are in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
Prices in Rockford seem to have stalled at $1.99 a gallon, and in some cases receded back a cent or two. With crude down again, I expect prices to stabilize or back off a bit … and we’ll work our way down to the bottom of the top third of the country.
Here are the prices (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford rose four cents to $1.93 a gallon and has gone up 24 cents in the past week. We have the third-highest gas prices in the state, with crazy Springfield passing us at $1.94. Bloomington and the Quad Cities are right behind us. We’re tied as the 63rd-highest of the nation’s 250 metro areas. The Illinois average rose five cents to $1.93, a 24 cent increase in the past week. The national average rose more than three cents to $1.76, only a 14 cent increase in the past week. Illinois has the sixth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia. Only Alaska and Hawaii remain above $2 a gallon.
Diesel: Rockford dropped two cents to $2.44 a gallon. We have the fifth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose half a cent to $2.55. The national average rose a cent to $2.43. Illinois has the 14th-highest diesel prices in the country. Only Alaska and Hawaii remain above $3 a gallon.
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1 Comment Add your own
1. SHERRY | January 8th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
We really need to get on about the business of becoming energy independent. This past year and the record gas prices played a huge part in our economic meltdown and seriously damaged our economy and society.We keep planning to spend BILLIONS on bailouts and stimulus plans.Bail us out of our dependence on foreign oil. Make electric plug in car technology more affordable. It cost the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to drive an electric plug in car. The electric could be generated from wind or solar. If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV’s instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. Get with it! Utilize free sources such as wind and solar. Stop throwing away money on things that don’t work. Invest in America and it’s energy independence. Create cheap clean energy, create millions of badly needed green collar jobs. Put America back to work. It is a win-win situation. We have to become more proactive citizens, educate ourselves and demand our elected officials move this country forward into the era of energy independence. Jeff Wilson’s new book The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW outlines a plan for America to wean itself off oil. We need a plan and we need it now! www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com
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