Gas Prices

CruzanIron - know you're not a fan of vi consortium but here's an article as it relates to gas prices on STX:
http://viconsortium.com/business/on-last-day-of-dlca-subpoena-gas-prices-fall-on-st-croix/

Thank you Alana. I'll probably fill up today. Still a lot of money for my 35 gallon tank.

3.44 by pearl b larson

Thank you Alana. I'll probably fill up today. Still a lot of money for my 35 gallon tank.

You're welcome!

Jeeze! 35 gallons! What do you drive?

I'd love the price of diesel to go down further to refill a 50 gallon tank for my generator, since it gets so much use! Last refill (plus extra 5 gallon containers) ran me around $380. It costs to be prepared.

The VI Consortium article reports $3.29/gallon in Sunny Isle on STX.

was up that way on saturday. oh well.

$3.29 at the Sunny Isle gas stations and also Sion Farm gas stations. I saw these prices today 2/16. No small coincidence. that 2/13 was the last day of the subpeonea by the DCLA of all owners. Guess the threat to look at the books of the owners prompted the decline from $3.65 to eventually $3.29. Being accused of $1.00/gallon profit selling @$3.65 obviously was true & not some random guess. The VI Consortium has an article on this.

I'm not sure why making $1 a gallon is wrong. Can someone explain this in the context of a free market, capitalistic society? I thought profit was good.

I'm not sure why making $1 a gallon is wrong. Can someone explain this in the context of a free market, capitalistic society? I thought profit was good.

This ain't a free market. From http://viconsortium.com/business/on-last-day-of-dlca-subpoena-gas-prices-fall-on-st-croix/ :

“In a free market economy, the understanding is that powerful dynamic that works in the favor of the consumer is the dynamic of competition,” Carrington began. “And the competition, in this case, is for gas prices per gallon, then the consumer has options to decide where they buy the product that they desire.”

“What we’re seeing here is everybody at one price, leaving the consumer with no such option, and the consumer has no choice to buy from gas station A, B or C [because] they are all at the same price,” Carrington continued. “It would seem to me that in a free market, the competitive dynamic works to the advantage of the consumer when gas station A decides to lower its price to $2.75 and give that option to the consumer, and the consumer, [in turn], would opt to go where he can get a better bang for his buck; thereby persuading other gas stations to follow suit.

“The whole dynamic of competition is absent in our market, and that works to the detriment of the consumer,” Carrington said.

It also violates anti-trust laws when there is collusion to set those prices so that everyone sells at the same price.

We are a tiny group of tiny islands and we offer no market leverage at all on a scale that would be meaningful against suppliers who dominate the region.

When Hovensa closed they allocated a several-month supply of fuel to carry the territory over until alternative sources were found. That was a kind thing to do. They didn't have to do that.

The fuel they allocated had a fixed cost at that time, and that cost was reflected in the rack price. At the time, it was a good price, but now that oil has dropped precipitously it isn't such a great price. But no matter. Fluctuating market value sometimes works in our favor, sometimes not. The important point is that we had a supply of fuel at a fixed price which was set fairly at the time it was sold to us.

Fortunately, that was a BIG supply, relatively speaking. It was something like 6 months worth of gas. Unfortunately, the price of oil dropped steadily well before we had used up our big supply. Still it remained cheaper for island distributors and gas stations to use up the $3 Hovensa gas rather than purchase trucked and barged $1.50 gas from PR, once delivery and brokering costs were factored in.

Naturally, the local government and local merchants put off seeking alternative sources and making arrangements for bulk fuel storage. But presumably now there is some incentive for a fuel supplier to devise a way to deliver and bunker fuels efficiently and at a reasonable cost. Bear in mind, however, that our markets are tiny, and getting tinier by the day, as cars become more efficient, and as people leave the territory. Globally the energy market is shifting away from oil, and these trends are only getting more pronounced as time goes by. No entrepreneur is going to overlook that fact when deciding whether or not to invest in fuel delivery infrastructure for the territory.

And Puma, the regionally dominant fuel supplier, dwarfs Hovensa. So if your ignorance caused you to think Hovensa was a faceless juggernaut plundering our pockets, you are in for a big surprise.

Puma sells at a much higher price, consistently, than other gas stations. At least, on STT. Think they were still selling gas above $4 plus last week.

Puma sells at a much higher price, consistently, than other gas stations. At least, on STT. Think they were still selling gas above $4 plus last week.

True. When all others were under $3 the other week I passed a Puma where it was still $3.97.

I bought gas Saturday at Puma Bovoni for $3.19 when Gasworks was displaying $3.59. Today, they were both $3.59.

As an aside: I hate those huge Puma signs.

Well that $3.29 didn't last very long, did it? Today we're up to $3.43.9! Probably was up yesterday as well. :S

Get ready, the pending strike by refinery workers is going the send fuel prices up

Racetrack and Jarrah's by Sugar Estate P.O. was $3.37 yesterday when I drove by.