On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 03:49:59 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/5/2015 12:05 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Wed, 04 Mar 2015 22:48:41 -0600, Califbill
wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
The storage problem is beginning to hit US oil producers as tank farms
are close to being full. Once crude oil is pumped out of the ground
it has to go somewhere. If there is no additional room to store
domestic oil it will drive prices downward in the commodity auction
pool, possibly by a large amount. The other good news is that
imported oil will continue to be squeezed out of the US market and put
additional pressure on the Russians and Venezuela.

I need to fuel up our trawler one of these days with 900 gallons of
diesel before we take off for a spring cruise. I've been delaying in
the expectation of lower prices. Stay tuned.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/outside-the-boardroom/article/Traders-can-t-ignore-oil-storage-limits-much-6114400.php

$5 a toll on diesel Kona. $2.99 regular Costco.

===

Diesel should get a double boost - first as crude inventories continue
to pile up, and second as winter heating oil demand starts to drop
off.


Do you buy from "marine" fuel stations?
In Scituate MA, the guys on the dock who did a lot of fishing used to
arrange for a fuel truck to show up at about 4am before the marina
operator (who also sold fuel) arrived. They were getting diesel for
about a buck less per gallon than the marina price.

I could never figure out why diesel went up in price to cost more than
gasoline. It used to be significantly less. It is less refined than
gasoline so it would stand to reason that it's less expensive to
process. I remember buying it for as little as 99 cents/gal in the
South Carolina/Georgia areas .. and that was at marine fuel stops.


===

Locally we have two choices for reasonably priced diesel. The first
is at a commercial fishing dock in Ft Myers Beach which sells mostly
to the local shrimp boat fleet. Unfortunately they are a little out
of the way for us and have limited hours during the week. On weekends
they are not open at all. Second choice is a delivery service that
comes to the house with a truck. They are usually within a few cents
of the shrimp dock and are flexible about scheduling deliveries.
Virtually all fuel in this area is first delivered by truck from Tampa
which is about 100 miles to the north. That adds around 5 to 10 cents
a gallon.

The mid-Atlantic states still have the best prices on the east coast.
I think it's mostly because of lower state taxes. Right now we are
still running on fuel we bought in North Carolina back in late
September.

Refinery costs for diesel have gone up, at least in part because of
environmental requirements for low sulphur content. Without road
taxes the price of diesel should be only slightly higher than #2 home
heating oil since they are almost identical. The government stats
show big regional differences for reasons that are not clear to me:

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/PET_PRI_WFR_A_EPD2F_PRS_DPGAL_W.htm

On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 11:14:45 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 07:18:43 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Virtually all fuel in this area is first delivered by truck from Tampa
which is about 100 miles to the north. That adds around 5 to 10 cents
a gallon.

The funny thing about that is gas is actually 15-20 cents cheaper in
Tampa than it is in South Ft Myers and Tampa is more like 140 miles
north. Then when you go another 15 miles down to Bonita it jumps
another 20 cents. Those last 20 miles must really be tough on the
teamsters. ;-)

===

My youngest son, the ivey league MBA, and I once did a thought
exercise on the economics of setting up a fuel terminal business in
SWFL and barging it in from Tampa. It was clear that the start up
costs would be quite high and the permitting hurdles added both
expense and a fair degree of risk. It would be easier for an
established business like Ballards in FMB but they seem happy just
selling diesel to shrimpers. If I was younger and more
entrepreneurial I might try to buy them out or make a business
proposal.

On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 13:52:38 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 12:17:48 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 11:14:45 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 05 Mar 2015 07:18:43 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Virtually all fuel in this area is first delivered by truck from Tampa
which is about 100 miles to the north. That adds around 5 to 10 cents
a gallon.

The funny thing about that is gas is actually 15-20 cents cheaper in
Tampa than it is in South Ft Myers and Tampa is more like 140 miles
north. Then when you go another 15 miles down to Bonita it jumps
another 20 cents. Those last 20 miles must really be tough on the
teamsters. ;-)

===

My youngest son, the ivey league MBA, and I once did a thought
exercise on the economics of setting up a fuel terminal business in
SWFL and barging it in from Tampa. It was clear that the start up
costs would be quite high and the permitting hurdles added both
expense and a fair degree of risk. It would be easier for an
established business like Ballards in FMB but they seem happy just
selling diesel to shrimpers. If I was younger and more
entrepreneurial I might try to buy them out or make a business
proposal.

You are right about the permitting issues.
Do they move refined product by rail? That might also be an option. We
already have a small bulk plant down on Fowler, right next to the
tracks. They also have a lot of space near the terminus at the end of
the line in south Bonita.
.

===

There's no problem moving refined product by rail. It's done all the
time but I'm sure barging it is significantly cheaper. You can also
use the barges as a storage facility and avoid the permitting for a
tank farm. It's not easy to do that by rail even if you have a large
freight yard. Getting a lot of truck traffic in and out of FMB could
be a big issue however. Using barges you could lighter the fuel right
off the tankers in Tampa and avoid some middlemen.

I've seen the terminal on Fowler. It looks relatively small and
lightly used but I don't know why.

The price can keep dropping. I like putting the squeeze on Putin. Every drop in the price kicks Putin in the ass. The Saudis can up production to make up for the perceived losses.