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Stuff

THE OCCASIONAL – SPRING 2008

The rate at which gasoline and diesel have moved to $4.00/gallon is absolutely breathtaking.  Personally I expected at least another year or two of rapturous denial before reality set in.  But here we are and short of a massive recession there is little reason to think that prices will do anything but trend up.  The supply is finite.  Those that have it don’t particularly like those that don’t.  And those that don’t are getting increasingly hungry for more.  Mix in the declining value of the dollar and “my oh my” what a mess.

It is particularly messy here in the islands for the usual reasons plus the likelihood that our neighbors will drive less thereby consuming less. That will likely mean that IPS, et al, will have to find ways to operate selling fewer gallons or find ways to encourage more people to shop locally.  We want people to conserve so we hope more people shop locally. While shopping locally and paying more per gallon may seem counterintuitive, it is really an investment in the future.  To put it another way, imagine the price of fuel if it was only available on the mainland or only available at one station on the island.

So what to do?  The usual suspects:  properly inflated tires, well tuned vehicles, moderate speeds, gentle stops and starts, ride sharing, multi-purpose trips, alternative transportation and fuels.  And the not so usual:  Shell Mastercard which is a great tool for helping keep our costs under control and getting fuel in your tank for less.  Shell rebates 5%, not 5 cents but 5% of the cost of gasoline purchased at the station with no additional cost to us.  Where else can you get a 20 cent per gallon discount??

On the alternative fuel front, we are going to make some changes: 

On the fuel island, our “on road diesel” dispenser will provide Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel plain and simple – no biodiesel added.

Our blended B-20, on road product, will move to the dispenser located by the shed.  We believe that the school buses as well as other bio diesel fans can access it quite readily.  We will also likely add a large filter system to the dispenser.

I am very aware of the “food or fuel issue” and considered stopping support of the Biodiesel all together.  But it is a problem that can be sorted out and I would like to do our little bit to give the industry more time to do that.  

I was reminded the other day that a barrel of crude is only 42 gallons not the 55 gallon drum that is so familiar around the island.  That means that at $113.00/barrel the raw material cost of gasoline or diesel is something like $2.69/gallon.  For me that provides a different context for the current price of finished fuel, refined, taxed, transported and available on the island.  It is no less painful.   

If you have comments or suggestions, we are always open to them.  If you prefer e-mail, ips@centurytel.net is the route. Enjoy the season.

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Last modified: April 24, 2008