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The OPIS Transportation Fuel Index (TFI) delivers precise and comprehensive wholesale stats as early as three weeks before the government Producer Price Index becomes available -- making this index especially valuable to economists and inflation modelers. Wholesale and retail data within the TFI is available within hours of a month’s conclusion, and can be catalogued by region, state, metropolitan statistical area (MSA) or even by zip code.
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The OPIS TFI gives analysts an immediate picture of wholesale performance and trends. For gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel prices, this will end the frustration in working with out-of-date statistics.
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Methodology
View gasoline, diesel and
jet fuel charts/tables. |
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June 2009 was very much like the previous month, with heavy updrafts taking crude oil prices to eight or nine month highs. In fact, when measured from the December trough to the Father’s Day June 21, 2009 high, retail gasoline showed its highest percentage gain since OPIS has been tracking street prices. Similarly, crude oil had a robust monthly gain that started to fall apart as meteorological summer was ushered in. Diesel prices were above May levels but there too, some late month weakness foreshadowed a dismal summer start.
Retail unleaded regular prices averaged $2.634 gal in the month, up 33.8cts gal from May but a whopping $1.40 gal below the visit to rarified air in spring 2008. Gains were distributed with little geographic distinction – every region of the country saw prices go up by at least 31.5cts gal, and western markets added 39.3cts gal. The West Coast did disconnect with the rest of the country in that prices there were typically 35-40cts gal above other regions.
The pump price advance did not come as a result of higher downstream margins. May 2009 saw wholesale price gains that outstripped the retail rise, and most areas saw a 25cts gal gain in wholesale numbers in June. Still, on a year-versus-year basis, there were extraordinary deficits to the bubbly $3.30-$3.50 gal wholesale prices of a year ago. Most portions of the country saw ex tax wholesale costs of about $2.00 gal, although California and other western states were about 15cts gal above that mark. Measured versus 2004, wholesale gas values were typically 55.5% higher.
Wholesale diesel prices managed to move up 31cts gal in June despite miserable demand that was measured by EIA, API and among marketers. The gains were entirely attributable to the crude increases that took WTI futures briefly above $73 bbl. No particular region stood out - - -it was simply a matter of crude prices pushing raw costs up by about 30cts gal countrywide. Diesel is still quite high when viewed from the perspective of five years – wholesale numbers in June 2009 were 71.2% above June 2004 levels.
Jet fuel behaved similarly to diesel with gains of 31.7cts gal, pushing an average of spot markets in the U.S. to $1.819 gal by month’s end. That was $2.07 gal below last year but more than twice the typical wholesale jet costs of five years ago. |
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