Price spike warning!

After Christmas blues, or positive economic news from the world markets, either way, numbers show prices moving up this week!

Here's what I have for the "six day":

• Heating and stove oils show an increase of 1.42 cents.
• Diesel shows an added 1.5 cents a litre, and...
• Gasoline shows an additional 3.2 cents to prices for Thursday coming.

I'll be back tomorrow night with the full seven days of data, but it doesn't look good for the week, regardless of what happens tomorrow.

Catch you here then!

George

Update!

The "seven day" now shows some slight change in the numbers for this week. Here's what I have:

• Heating and stove oils to increase by 1.37 cents.
• Diesel to increase by 1.4 cents, and...
• Gasoline to increase by 3.0 cents, a drop of two tenths from yesterday's numbers.
  

Numbers up for most fuels

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, December 21, 2010 - Consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador will see a slight upwards movement in prices when the PUB adjusts prices this Thursday. That's according to George Murphy of the Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices.

"There hasn't been a big move in oil prices, but refined commodity prices are another thing, albeit they haven't moved a great deal. I expect heating and stove oils to increase by 1.13 cents a litre, diesel to increase by an even penny, and gasoline to increase by 1.2 cents a litre. These numbers are up slightly as a result of an increase in the US dollar against the Canadian currency with the canuck buck losing almost a cent and a half against its US counterpart," said Murphy.

"Distillates remain under heavy pressure as a result of colder weather in both the US and Europe and that has helped to support oil prices as well as support those fuels from the distillate group of fuels, namely diesel, heating and stove oils. As we enter into the depths of the heating season, I expect that upwards pricing pressure will continue to support prices where they are at present."

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For more information, contact;

George Murphy
Group researcher/Member
Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices

Numbers are up slightly

This weeks numbers are up slightly amidst signs that the US dollar has gained a little strength and that there's some economic troubles on this side of the border that has precipitated the slide in our own currency.

Oil has stayed mostly steady, but commodity prices are in flux with some changes worthy of note.

While distillate prices have stayed relatively steady over the past week, for the last day I have on record showed gasoline numbers to be out of whack with what distillates are showing. An oddity I sometimes wonder about.

Here's an example:

While heating oils sold at $2.46.24 on Friday, they showed little change in Monday trading, remaining relatively steady at $2.47.32, a change of 1.08 cents a litre.

Gasoline was the difference that I noted though. Friday's trading session showed gasoline at $2.33.53 a US gallon, while Monday's market close showed an increase to $2.42.03 cents a US gallon, or an increase from Friday's 62.46 cents a litre Canadian to Monday's 65.08 cents a litre, an increase of 2.62 cents a litre from the Friday close.

The reason?

I haven't seen an explanation yet, but I'm dying to see the reasons why it's up. If it does stay up this way for the next week, we're bound to be in a cycle of another increase to gasoline prices. We are now, as it is, just not to the same degree that we would be if one were to be making plans for the return trip home from Christmas vacation.

Here's what I have for this regulation period so far:

• Heating and stove oils are up by 1.03 cents a litre.
• Diesel is up by 9/10ths, and...
• Gasoline shows an added 1.1 cents per litre.

I'll be back tomorrow night with the final numbers.

Regards,

George

Consumers to get a small break at the pumps
Distillates show little movement

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, December 14, 2010- Consumers of gasoline will get a small break at the pumps this week when the Public Utilities Board adjusts prices this Thursday. That's according to George Murphy, group researcher with the Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices.

"While oil has remained relatively steady in terms of price there is some question as to where inventories stand as to their correlation to prices. I believe that this retreat in prices is caused by investors belief that consumers have been left with little maneuvering room and high energy prices have started to take a bite out of consumers wallets. That seems to be supported by data from the US American Petroleum Institute (API) report which shows growth in gasoline inventory for the second week in a row. The real proof may come tomorrow when the US government's Energy Information Administration releases its inventory data. If that correlates with the API data, we may see some more retreat in pricing, as well as for oil prices", said Murphy.

What to expect with prices
"I expect no change in heating and stove oils, while diesel shows just a four tenths of a cent drop per litre. Gasoline is showing 2.2 cents a litre down for this week. While there is a build in gasoline inventory, heating and stove oils have been under considerable pressure from increased European demand as a result of cold weather there.

Consumers should question tire burning
"Consumers in this province have been charged three dollars per tire for the past few years to help institute a tire recycling program. I don't think they expect tires to be burned as fuel. It's a one time end use for something that consumers didn't want to see. Consumers expect value for their money, so tire burning doesn't endear anyone in the belief in tire recycling. We expect more bang for our three dollars a tire that we've paid. Why doesn't the government commission a study into other alternative uses for tires besides burning them? That hardly represents a recycling effort in my books. They could have used them as a aggregate in road asphalt as that material has become relatively costly in recent years. It just seems that burning tires doesn't seem to be healthy for the environment , while we recycle roads in recent years. Consumers need to know that they're getting "money for worth" when it comes to paying tire recycling fees."

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For more information, contact;

George Murphy
Group researcher/Member
Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices

Gasoline numbers down

Distillates steady

Yes, I said gasoline numbers are down so far, for this weeks changes anyway.

Here's what I have so far, in a not too contentious business week:

• Heating and stove oils are down by a mere 3/100ths of a cent.
• Diesel is down by 3/10ths of a cent, and...
• Gasoline is down by 2.1 cents a litre.

Yes...

Cause for celebration maybe?

Not quite yet, but it is a welcome break from last weeks sudden rise and puts us in line with what has been happening in other markets with very modest price drops.

What I'm looking for this week

Of course, tomorrow will find me posting the full seven day synopsis on what to expect as regards to price changes for the week, but I'm also looking for signs of a drop in demand of products like gasoline just to see if price has anything correlating to last weeks build in gasoline inventory.

That news comes on Tuesday with an industry report on inventories followed on Wednesday by the US Energy Information Administrations take on inventory findings.

If so, then expect some further moderation in both distillates as well as gasoline, and that should be mirrored by a slight slide in oil prices. If demand has been affected by high prices it may be very likely an indicator that we're all dealing with very weak recovery in the economy, something for which there's much contentious debate.

For me, it's going to be another signal to Big Oil that consumers aren't going to tolerate high prices and it'll be another sign that there's very little room for maneuver by the consumer when it comes to disposable income.

You know where to find me...

Catch you all tomorrow night with the final breakdown on what to expect for Thursday.

Regards for now!

George

Numbers up for all fuels
Increased oil prices mean consumers will pay

Media release

Conception Bay South, NL, December 07, 2010- Consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador will be paying more for all fuels this coming Thursday. That's according to the information that George Murphy has gathered for the last week, and the numbers are substantial.

"We're looking at increases in pricing across the board", said Murphy. "Prices are reflective of what has been happening in the markets over the past week, and the consumer is going to pay as a result of an increase in refined commodities."

"I expect heating and stove oils to increase by 2.69 cents per litre, diesel shows an increase of 2.3 cents and gasoline is up by four cents on a litre for Thursday. There was some retreat in oil prices that was just not enough to bring those numbers the other way, but what I did see in the numbers for the past two days is reflective of what we might expect in the coming weeks: the possibility that European Union countries like Ireland and Portugal may not be able to meet their financial targets. That could lead to faltering economic recovery, ending in a retreat in oil prices altogether. We're keeping an eye to those countries to see if they meet their previous commitments to pay down their debt. Any austerity programming that these countries do bring in could potentially affect consumer spending and affect exports from countries like the United States and Canada, and that could mean economic troubles down the road. Either way, the markets and consumers are both reaching a breaking point: markets for how much they can earn the investor and consumers for how much they can bear high energy prices before they curtail spending."

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For more information, contact;

George Murphy
Group researcher/Member
Consumer Group for Fair Gas Prices
gasprices@hotmail.com please

Price spike warning!

Just to let everyone know that I have been tracking a large increase in prices for this Thursday coming.

Here's what I have so far this week, five days reporting:

• Heating and stove oils show an added 2.69 cents per litre.
• Diesel shows an added 2.3 cents, and...
• Gasoline shows an added 4.6 cents a litre.

There'll be more on this as the data comes in, but everyone should pass the word that there will be increases in most pricing this week.

Regards,

George