FuelClub Discount

In time-honoured fashion, the price of road fuel is soaring just ahead of a holiday weekend. The oil industry rarely misses an opportunity to deliver itself a public relations shot in the foot but this one is curious because it is the price of diesel that is soaring, more than petrol, and it is a systemic problem. We know the oil price has been high, peaking last week at $111 (£55.27) per barrel, and pump prices have risen in tandem but since the beginning of January the cost of diesel has risen at twice the rate of petrol. There is a shortage of diesel in Europe - some petrol stations have actually run dry - and the problem is there are just too many diesel cars.

The average UK retail price of petrol has risen from 103p per litre to 106.8p per litre since the new year but diesel has raced ahead from 108p to 114.3p. Normally, diesel drivers pay a smallish premium of 2p to 4p per litre over petrolheads but it has now escalated to 7.5p as supermarkets scramble for scarce cargoes. This may be a sign that a long-running shortage of diesel in Europe is getting worse. A cycle of refinery maintenance shutdowns and an unexpected cold snap late in the winter has coincided to create a temporary shortage. In search of extra fuel, importers have been buying cargoes of diesel in America for shipment to Europe.
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Local analysts aren’t surprised that demand for gasoline is down.

And while that trend may continue — even with the summer driving season gearing up — that doesn’t necessarily mean that gas prices won’t climb to record-shattering levels.

But Steve Agee, an economist with Oklahoma City University who also is president and chief operating officer of Agee Energy and chairman of the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board, is not making predictions on how high prices will go.

“If you could tell me where crude oil prices are going, I could make you a prediction. But at the margin…ultimately demand factors are going to decide this issue,” he says.
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The X Prize Foundation, best known for its competitions promoting space flights, is offering $10 million to the teams that can produce the most production-ready vehicles that get 100 miles per gallon or more.
The foundation was to announce the size of the purse and its sponsor, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., on Thursday at the New York International Auto Show.

More than 60 teams from nine countries have signed up for the competition so far, including California electric carmakers Aptera Motors and Tesla Motors, German diesel carmaker Loremo and a team from Cornell University.

Teams will be able to sign up through mid-2008, when applicants will be narrowed to those who can prove they would build production-ready, consumer-friendly cars. Those that qualify will race their vehicles in cross-country races in 2009 and 2010 that will combine speed, distance, urban driving and overall performance.
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Sinopec, one of China’s two largest oil companies, announced yesterday that it received a subsidy of 12.3 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) for its losses in the refinery business.

It is likely that the jaw-dropping subsidy will spark another round of public complaints. This is the third year that this oil giant has got such a handsome subsidy while reporting overall profits of tens of billions of yuan.

Many people doubt the legitimacy to pay such money to a company that is a beneficiary of the State monopoly in the oil industry.

But the authorities insist that the extra expenditure is necessary to sustain the government’s tight control over retail oil prices, which is essential to reining in rising consumer inflation.

However, the problem is that the astronomical subsidy accounts for only a part, if not a small one, of the real costs that the country is paying for the current oil pricing mechanism. The increasingly negative impact it exerts upon our efforts to improve energy efficiency justifies a thorough examination of the real costs of subsidized oil.
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FedEx Corporation yesterday reported a higher-than-expected third-quarter net profit, but gave a low outlook for the current quarter citing soaring fuel prices and slowing US economic growth, sending the package delivery company’s shares down more than two per cent.

“Our fourth-quarter earnings outlook has been impacted by higher-than-anticipated fuel prices and a weak US economy,” chief financial officer Alan Graf said. “Looking ahead to our next fiscal year, we are expecting a continuation of fourth-quarter trends, which would result in limited earnings growth next year.

“We are scrutinising all expenses and investments to realign them with the current environment,” he added.
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Topping $3 a gallon, gasoline isn’t cheap these days.

Now, one North Oaks man’s sophisticated system allegedly designed to steal it highlights the growing problem of gas thefts in the Twin Cities. With electric pumps and tubes built into his truck, he would siphon gas from the vehicles of unsuspecting motorists into his own with the flip of a switch, investigators said.

“We were kind of shocked and amazed that someone would go to that level of effort to steal gas,” Ramsey County sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Loots said.

Gasoline prices have shot up more than 20 cents a gallon in recent weeks, surpassing $3.25 a gallon in some locations. Filling up a tank can run to more than $50 on some vehicles. And with the economy tight, many people are resorting to stealing gas.
Investigators have noticed more drive-offs at gas stations, said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. That has prompted his office to create a database to report gas thefts.

There are now two to three drive-offs a day at the Holiday StationStore in St. Paul where Billi Jean Goodwin is an assistant manager. She said the station has seen the increase in recent months.

The thefts usually occur at busy times when attendants aren’t always able to write down license plate and vehicle description information, she said. Many area stations are requiring customers to pay before they can pump gasoline, either round-the-clock or during night hours, she said.

Investigating those drive-offs has become a priority. The sheriff’s office began a program about six months ago to follow up on license plate and video information provided by gas stations.
During the past two or three months, 22 service stations in Ramsey County have been able to use an online reporting system. Ramsey County Sgt. Eric Bradt, who is involved in the project, said it has been used in about 70 drive-off cases during that time.

Going after gas thieves is essential, Fletcher said, because they tend to be repeat offenders.

A criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court links the North Oaks man only to one incident. Chad Michael Storey, 34, is charged with possessing burglary or theft tools.

He was spotted about 4 a.m. Monday trying to get into his truck, which was parked about 8 inches from a van in a Vadnais Heights parking lot. Seeing Storey’s door hit the van’s, an officer looked to see if there was any damage. He smelled gas and noticed the van’s gas cap had been removed, the complaint said.

Police looked inside Storey’s truck and found a sophisticated hose system hooked up to an electric pump that allowed him to steal gas from a vehicle and pump it into another, the complaint said.

The system was turned on by simply flipping a switch under the dashboard of his truck, said Tom Rudenick, an investigator in the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office. The siphoning device appeared to be homemade, authorities said.

When investigators confronted Storey about stealing gas, the complaint said, he replied: “Yeah, but I didn’t get any.”

Jack Michaud, a general supervisor for Ramsey County Public Works, said anyone who has seen water being pumped out of a pool could figure out how to siphon gas. Michaud, who assisted during a demonstration of the device Tuesday, figures Storey might have had some mechanical knowledge.

“It’s not rocket science stuff, but he has mechanical ability,” he said.

Source: TwinCities