Merry Christmas everyone!
Geopolitical news has been very quiet going into the end of the year. Crude prices rallied a little with the shutdown of the Forties Pipeline in England that carries 400k barrel/day. The tax cut bill from Congress really ate up the news cycle of this week. But as predicted last week, retail prices were falling and stabilizing to the lowest of the last 2 months. We were seeing lower prices coming for Christmas which always makes for better holidays. In fact, historically prices usually fall before Christmas.
But unfortunately the Grinch showed up this Christmas…
http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/high-gas-prices-greet-holiday-motorists#stream/0
Please read the article posted above. In Chicago, the Exxon/Mobil and Marathon refineries went down and were unable to be fixed. The issues are being kept very secret. However, from the contacts that I have in Chicago, the outages are expected to remain for the first couple weeks of 2018. These issues sent the spot price of gasoline rocketing up 30 cents/gallon in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. So unfortunately, the Christmas gift of cheaper fuel as in years past was stolen by Exxon/Mobil and Marathon.
I expect retail gas prices to edge up closer to $2.49/gallon and diesel prices near $3.00/gallon. These prices could hold for up to two to three more weeks. Once Exxon/Mobil and Marathon are back on line, gasoline spot prices will drop fast. I will keep you updated as information is released.
Propane prices are very stable due to the overall lack of winter demand in the country. Here in our neck of the woods, we are a bit colder than last year. However, we are still not that cold in comparison to four or five years ago. For now supplies and prices are stable which makes the delivery logistics much easier for the industry.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to give us a call.
Best regards,
Jon Crawford – Pres.
Crawford Oil and Propane