In a sign of how weak the economy is and how weak demand continues to erode refiner margins, Valero today announced it's closing its 210,000bpd plant in Delaware City, DE.

This is now the second U.S. refinery to shut its doors in November- the Western Refinery facility in New Mexico also intends to shut its 190,000bpd plant in Bloomfield.



While the news can temporarily help push oil and gasoline prices lower on "verification" that demand is low, and margins are negative, the long term outlook is that these plants will be well-needed if and when the U.S. economy makes a strong recovery. A key ingredient to positive growth after a recession has been affordable energy. If demand ever recovers, there will be less capacity to refine oil into sought after products, such as gasoline and diesel fuel.

It was just two years ago that many refineries were planning large expansions, but many of those plans were canceled as oil prices collapsed a year ago.

This certainly will not be the last plant closure either- there are many smaller facilities that have a risk for closing. It seems that the industry is focusing more on larger refineries in strategic locations that have more flexibility.

Valero is the largest refiner, by capacity, in the United States.

As if oil company stockpiles were not high enough, the Department of Energy released today a report showing that the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the Gulf States contained a record amount of crude oil- some 725 million barrels, or 30 billion gallons of oil.

With U.S. demand at nearly 18.5 million barrels per day, this strategic stockpile would last the country 39 days with no other oil production or imports. That's a huge amount of oil. Add the amount of oil in other storage, the U.S. has over 1.2 billion barrels of oil in storage (ready to refine) and 23 days of gasoline supply (ready to ship to stations). Generally, gasoline stockpiles are considered adequate at 21-22 days. Another day of gasoline demand represents 386.4 million gallons of gasoline.

As you can see, oil and gasoline stockpiles are well beyond "healthy". If refiners shut, we'd also have 48 days of diesel and heating oil on hand ready to ship as well. These numbers are all well-above their year ago numbers. This data is part of the reason oil prices have not been able to accelerate as easily as they have in the past. Overall demand is down across the United States as well- gasoline demand is slightly off last year, while diesel fuel demand is as weak as it was in the late 90's.

What we really need to see now is a stronger U.S. dollar, but that might hurt the economic recovery by making U.S. goods more expensive overseas. However, a stronger dollar would go a long way to making oil and gasoline cheaper!

Looking back at past Wednesdays, I think this is the easiest weekend forecast to make in quite some time. Prices are definitely trending higher again, with wholesale prices up some 6-cents compared to last week.

Gasoline prices will slowly rise this weekend just about everywhere. Prices have already risen as much as 30-cents per gallon in the Midwest, with Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky all showing higher prices overnight.



By next Monday, the U.S. average will rise to $2.698 while prices in Canada will remain relatively stable near 101c/L.

However, there will be exceptions. Prices in California may fall a small amount as wholesale prices for California blended fuel fall below levels seen earlier this week.

Coupled with the Department of Energy report this morning that is expected to contain some news of inventory draws due to Ida, prices may continue to rise, just in time for Thanksgiving travelers.

How many of you travel with extra "stuff" in your car all the time? Perhaps some luggage, folders, files, paperwork, clothing, or other items have been in your car for months. To make your dollar go as far as possible, make sure to remove all items that aren't necessary in your car- clean the trunk, keep only necessary items.

All that "dead" weight can reduce your fuel economy 2-5% for each hundred pounds. Maybe there's a stroller or car seat that hasn't been used in months. It'd be a better idea only to haul it when necessary as well because if something were to happen to you, any loose objects may become projectiles and injury you or passengers.





















In addition to that, make sure that when you do haul extra items, they are safe. Hauling a trailer? Make sure to check your local laws- many states require safety chains that will prevent a major accident if the trailer detaches from the hitch.

Travel safe and smart, and make your vehicle as fuel efficient as possible!

I've heard of many people that purchase premium gasoline every so often to clean out their fuel systems of "gunk". Are you one of these people? Or does your car require the use of premium fuel? Let me share why many times buying premium gasoline is a waste.

First, if your car manufacturer requires premium fuel, you should probably purchase it. Running regular gasoline may void your warranty should something major happen. However, if that doesn't deter you, you could likely get by purchasing regular fuel if your vehicle is newer.

The only difference between fuel grades is their octane rating. Regular is typically rated at 85-86 octane while Mid-grade is typically 87-89 and Premium 91-94. These numbers tell you the fuel's anti-knock rating. The higher the number, the less likely your vehicle will experience damaging "pinging" when towing, or accelerating hard.



There is no difference in fuel beyond that, and all fuel requires detergents and additives by the government, so don't be fooled into thinking only premium fuel carries these. Even I used to fill with premium occasionally, thinking it would mean a better performing car, but it's not the case. You will not see any increase in horsepower (unless your car is engineered to run on premium gasoline), and no matter what grade you get, you'll still get engine cleaning detergents and additives.

Did you know you can add a GasBuddy "widget" on your Windows-based PC? That's right- each time you wake up or check your e-mail you can see what prices are in your neighborhood without having to click a thing!

GasBuddy offers a widget that you can download and add to your desktop, just point your browser to the GasBuddy Widget to download and install it!

It can save you money even if you don't have enough time to load your GasBuddy site, just take a peak at your computer desktop before you head out!

I decided that I'd crunch some numbers and attempt to put into perspective how much gasoline the U.S. consumes.

If you include everyone in the United States as of today (306 million-plus), gasoline demand is 458 gallons per person, per year, or 141 billion gallons/year as a country. Wow!

After crunching some of our numbers, I've calculated that the cumulative average price for a gallon of gasoline in 2009 stands at $2.299. Based on that number, the U.S. has spent $281.6 billion on gasoline as of the end of today (to be exact, $281,601,751,200). By the end of the year, that number will be closer to $327 billion dollars, assuming an average of $2.50/gallon from today through the rest of the year. That's nearly $896 million per day!





















I also did a study on sales of regular, mid-grade, and premium fuel. Regular gasoline makes up roughly 87% of sales, while mid-grade makes up around 4%, and premium accounts for 7%. 2% of gasoline sales are other grades, such as race fuel, E85, and other grades.

The amount of money that we will spend in 2009 on gasoline as a country is more than 4 times larger than the 2010 Budget for the Department of Transportation.

Finally! It seems it's been quite some time since the DOE report showed good numbers in all categories. This week's report is likely to push oil prices down as supply increases while demand decreases.

The Department of Energy report showed that crude inventories rose 1.8 million barrels, leaving supply nearly 8% higher than a year ago. Good news for gasoline inventories as well, rising 2.5 million barrels against a picture of weakened demand but surprising since refinery utilization slipped under 80%. Gasoline inventories are now 7.3% higher than a year ago. Distillate (diesel/heating oil) inventories also rose, but only 300,000 barrels. This leaves distillate inventories a whopping 30% higher than a year ago.
Demand suffered compared to the last few weeks, averaging 8.9 million barrels, and down 1% compared to the same week last year. Refinery utilization dropping under 80% was quite surprising after seeing the increase in inventories. That's the lowest number I could find for all of 2009, and is comparable to the production of oil a few weeks after Ike dissipated last year.

It has yet to be seen what impact Hurricane Ida had on inventories, as a major oil port had shut for three days while the storm roared into the Gulf.

As expected, the report has given bulls a reason to temporarily get out of the market, with oil hovering near $77 and gasoline trading 5.5-cents lower at this time.

This will lead to lower prices throughout the U.S. and Canada over the weekend with prices averaging $2.625 and Canada dropping to near 101c/L.

It's time to give an outlook on gasoline prices for this weekend! You should note, however, that since the weekly Department of Energy report will be released tomorrow, and could greatly impact gasoline prices. Check back tomorrow to see how the report came out.

Having said that, prices will remain steady in the U.S., but the Midwest may continue to drop as a major refiner has aggressively sold large amounts of gasoline, I am unsure with who or why, but any reason for lower prices, I'll take! If the DOE report tomorrow in unfavorable, be forewarned that prices in the Midwest may jump ala Speedway.

Well it's Tuesday (at least that's what I think it is), and that means another Gas Tip! We'll cover where to get gasoline on vacation or on a road trip.

Many times on vacation or a road trip, you're hundreds of miles away from home on unfamiliar roads. Since many are relaxed during vacation, their minds aren't focused on saving money... but there's an easy way with just a few tips to save money at the pump while on the road and spend it doing something more enjoyable.

First of all, I would highly recommend using the GasBuddy Trip Cost Calculator before leaving for your destination. It's an easy way to show you where to get gasoline while en route to your destination. If you input your make, model, and year, our computers will figure out how big your tank is, and where the cheapest places will be to fill up once you get close to "E"! I'll briefly walk you though this.



I'll start off in the Big Apple (NYC), head to see relatives in Seattle, WA, then finish off with some time in LA! My vehicle is a 2008 Honda Civic 2.0L FWD, and GasBuddy tells me my vehicle gets 21/29 MPG (spot on!). It even asks how full my tank is to start (cool!).

You can see all the options I've selected (super easy)... then we put the computer to work! Out pops the stations (in a list) that I should fill up at, and a summary! Just a few moments planning my route saved me at least $34 over the entire trip- that's like a free tank of gas for my car!

If you're on the way to your destination and didn't use the Trip Cost Calculator, here are some tips on where gasoline is cheaper.

->Avoid affluent areas and downtown in major cities. The cost of doing business is likely higher, and that higher price is passed to you. In affluent areas, stations charge more because people are less sensitive to gas prices.
->Avoid gas stations next to the highway or at a highway oasis. These stations know that travelers just want an easy off/easy on station, and you pay extra for the convince. Many times stations just down the road from the highway are cheaper because they must compete for local business.





Taking just a few extra minutes to find a cheaper gas station on vacation can really add up- it's like free gas, a free meal for the family, etc! It's more money in your pocket for you to enjoy!

Ida isn't even a Hurricane any more, but is still causing mischief as the Tropical Storm nears landfall, expected 6am Tuesday.

Ida lost strength after turning into a Category 2 storm yesterday, but still caused some Gulf-area oil facilities to shut down. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, a major offloading port for foreign oil was suspending oil deliveries via ship earlier today and will likely reopen late Tuesday as Ida passes. Also closing facilities was BP, announcing they were evacuating an undisclosed amount of their oil rigs and platforms.

Fun Fact: Recycling all the oil filters sold annually in the United States would result in the recovery of about 160,000 tons of steel, or enough steel to make 16 new stadiums the size of Atlanta's Turner Stadium.

It's something very important to the longevity of your vehicle and maintaining your warranty- getting timely oil changes. The question is, who should you believe?

Keeping it simple, you should always follow your owners manual. There's no one that knows more about your make and model than the manufacturer. Many people will try and tell you that 3,000-mile oil changes are a must, or that going any further will cause damage. There's one simple way to find out the truth- read your owners manual. Car dealers and scrupulous oil change businesses will tell you that you must return every 3,000 miles. In fact, one major oil change company now offers a warranty- but only if you get your oil changed every 3,000 miles.

With newer engines and better technology, many cars today don't need an oil change every 3,000 miles- it's simply a waste of oil and hurts the environment.

Many stations have installed units on their pumps to take credit cards at the pump. The question is, was it a good or bad idea?

While it's nice and convenient for motorists to pay without having to go inside the gas station, has pay at the pump been a success since stations starting installing them?

There are two groups of people- the motorists, and station owners. While motorists (such as myself) love pay at the pump for its simple and easy way to pay, station owners likely wish it had never been invented, and here's why.

Many people have noticed that gasoline prices regularly rise in the Spring months, in some cases, even before Winter is over. On the flip side, many notice that gasoline prices typically fall during the autumn months. Have you wondered why and never gotten a credible answer? Let's educate you.

It's quite simple once you sit down and think about it. Gasoline refiners, much like retail stores at your mall always are thinking ahead to what's next. Many times you see retailers bringing in Christmas decorations even before Halloween, and swim suits in stores starting in February for the Summer. Gasoline prices are much the same way, and there's a reason.

Every Summer, gasoline refiners must produce many different fuels that have many different ingredients. During the Spring, they begin to switch the refineries around to produce this Summer fuel so that there's enough to meet demand during the Summer. The concern always seems to be with adequate supply.

It's bittersweet that oil prices are down over $2/barrel this morning, after all, much of the reason for the lower prices this morning is because of the higher than expected jobless rate.

Today's unemployment report shows that the jobless rate sits at 10.2%, meaning near 16 million Americans are out of a job. It's the highest number in at least 20 years, and throws into question if there will be a recovery in jobs.

While the U.S. economy grew at a slow rate of 3.5%, jobs have been slow to return as employers see increased productivity from those on the job.