A Weekly Publication of the American Trucking Associations'

Economics & Statistics Group

Volume 16 Issue 22

May 29, 2012

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported
that the price for U.S. on-highway diesel fell 5.9 cents to
$3.897 per gallon. (The EIA is the statistical agency of
the U.S. Department of Energy.) The national average
price is currently 1.3% or 5.1 cents lower than at this time
last year.
Prices were down across the country this week.
California, down 7.5 cents to $4.228 per gallon, remains
the most expensive of all regions. In the East Coast,
prices fell 5.9 cents to $3.940. The Midwest price fell 5.9
cents to $3.795, the lowest price among all regions. In
the Rocky Mountains, prices were also down 5.9 cents
from last week at $3.928.
The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil
settled at $90.86 per barrel on Friday, 62 cents below a
week earlier. Compared with a year earlier, the price of
WTI was down 9.7%.

The EIA also reported that the price of regular grade

gasoline fell 4.5 cents to $3.669 per gallon. The price of
gasoline is 3.3% or 12.5 cents less expensive than a
year ago. Diesel costs 22.8 cents more than gasoline.
Last week, the EIA said that U.S. commercial crude oil
stockpiles increased 0.2% to 382.5 million barrels
during the week of May 18, 2012. Compared with a
year ago, crude oil inventories increased 3.1%. Yearto-date, crude oil stocks were 0.4% higher than the
same time last year.
Meanwhile, total distillate stocks were down 0.3% from
last week at 119.5 million barrels, which was 15.3%
lower than at the same time in 2011. Demand for
distillates was down 0.9% from the previous week and
up 0.4% from the same time last year. Year-to-date,
distillate demand is up 5.3%. Nationwide, refineries
were operating at 88.1% of capacity.

RETAIL AND WHOLESALE DIESEL PRICES

National
East Coast
New England
Centl Atlantic
Lower Atlantic
Midwest
Gulf Coast
Rocky Mtn.
West Coast
California

05/28/12
3.897
3.940
4.072
4.023
3.854
3.795
3.802
3.928
4.164
4.228

Change
-0.059
-0.059
-0.058
-0.056
-0.062
-0.059
-0.059
-0.059
-0.069
-0.075

05/21/12
3.956
3.999
4.130
4.079
3.916
3.854
3.861
3.987
4.233
4.303

05/14/12
4.004
4.054
4.192
4.135
3.969
3.897
3.915
4.004
4.277
4.349

Year Ago
3.948
3.962
4.121
4.082
3.897
3.896
3.884
4.020
4.161
4.227

Change
-0.051
-0.022
-0.049
-0.059
-0.043
-0.101
-0.082
-0.092
0.003
0.001

2.864
2.908
2.961
0.000

-0.006
-0.113
-0.137
N/A

2.870
3.021
3.098
0.000

3.075
3.161
3.245
0.000

3.011
2.912
3.048
2.545

-0.147
-0.004
-0.087
-2.545

Year High
4.148
4.190
4.278
4.282
4.110
4.055
4.063
4.144
4.433
4.483

NO. 2 LOW-SULFUR DIESEL SPOT MARKET BUY AVERAGE PRICES (U.S.$/GAL)

NYHarbor
Houston *
Los Angeles*

Year Low
3.721
3.741
3.907
3.860
3.674
3.671
3.651
3.815
3.855
3.928

3.311
3.298
3.428
3.476

2.741
2.809
2.836
2.498

Wholesale Diesel Price

(NY harbor low sulfur)

National Diesel Fuel Price

3.50

4.00

3.25

3.75

3.00

$/Gallon

3.50
3.25

2.75
2.50
2.25

3.00

2.00

2.75

5/25/12

4/27/12

3/30/12

3/2/12

2/3/12

1/6/12

12/9/11

11/11/11

9/16/11

8/19/11

7/22/11

Dec

Nov

10/14/11

2012 YTD

Oct

Sep

Aug

June

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

2011

6/24/11

1.75

2.50

5/27/11

$/Gallon

(EIA Survey)
4.25

2012 American Trucking Associations, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this work by any manner or any means without written permission of the
American Trucking Associations, Inc. is prohibited.

ATA Fuel Line (May 29, 2012) -- Page 2

EIA Weekly Statistics: Production, imports, and estimated demand are in thousands of barrels per day. Inventories are in
thousands of barrels. (Y-T-D = Year-to-Date; --- = data not available)
Sources: Weekly Petroleum Status Report, Energy Information Administration & ATA

May 18, 2012

Current

Total Distillate Market

Production
Inventories
Imports
Estimated Demand
Low-Sulfur Diesel Market
Production
Inventories
Imports
Estimated Demand
Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Market
Production
Inventories
Imports
Estimated Demand
Crude Oil Stocks
U.S. Refining
Percent Operated Capacity

Year Ago

Year % Chg.

4,261
141,092
103
4,655

5.8%
-15.3%
20.4%
0.4%

4,362
135,764
141
4,674

6.2%
-8.0%
-31.0%
5.3%

140
7,943
0
146

240
9,796
180

-41.7%
-18.9%
#DIV/0!
-19.0%

177
8,535
5
195

-34.3%
-23.1%
-77.9%
-38.9%

3,986
86,352
108
4,108

3,781
99,423
55
4,226

5.4%
-13.1%
96.4%
-2.8%

3,806
97,634
89
3,970

10.7%
-0.7%
-19.5%
10.7%

382,527

370,928

3.1%

354,275

0.4%

88.1%

86.3%

2.1%

---

Weekly Total Distillate Inventories

Weekly Total Distillate Production

Mill. of Barrels/Day

Millions of Barrels

170.0
160.0
150.0
140.0
130.0
120.0

110.0
100.0

5.1
4.9
4.7
4.5
4.3
4.1
3.9
3.7
3.5
3.3
3.1
Jan

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Oct Nov Dec
2011

Latest

Previous
Week

% change
(week)

J-12
J-12
A-12
S-12
O-12
N-12
D-12
J-13
M-13
M-13

2.8288
2.8329
2.8399
2.8485
2.8583
2.8684
2.8781
2.8873
2.8808
2.8997

2.9295
2.9359
2.9431
2.9512
2.9586
2.9660
2.9730
2.9789
2.9701
2.9872

-3.4%
-3.5%
-3.5%
-3.5%
-3.4%
-3.3%
-3.2%
-3.1%
-3.0%
-2.9%

Brent Oil ($/bbl)

Non-OPEC Average ($/bbl) 2
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu)
Wholesale Gasoline ($/gal)
OPEC Average ($/bbl)2
Retail Gasoline ($/gal)

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Latest

Jul

Aug

2011

Oil Market Data2

NYMEX
($/Gal)

WTI Crude Oil ($/bbl)

Feb

5-yr avg

2012 YT D

Heating Oil #2 Futures Prices

Other Oil/Fuel Prices

Y-T-D % Chg.

4,508
119,493
124
4,676

180.0

5-yr avg

Y-T-D Avg.

U.S. Market (thous. bbl/d)

Oct

Nov

Dec

2012 YT D

(four-week averages)

4/13/12

4/6/12

Supply
Demand

21,565
18,565

21,398
18,267

Surplus/
Deficit

3,000

3,131

% chg
(week)
0.8%
1.6%

4/15/11

% chg
(year)

20,907
19,080

3.1%
-2.7%

1,827

Baker-Hughes Rotatory U.S. Rig Count2

1,972

1,950

1.1%

1,800

9.6%

Previous Week

Last Year

Year High

Year Low

90.86

91.48

100.59

109.77

75.67

109.76

111.40

111.25

128.14

101.84

N/A

N/A

116.84

116.84

98.79

2.57
2.89
117.25

2.74
2.89
116.46

4.52
3.09
121.07

4.85
3.42
124.15

1.91
2.45
101.00

3.669

3.714

3.794

3.941

3.229

2012 American Trucking Associations, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this work by any manner or any means without written permission of the
American Trucking Associations, Inc. is prohibited. For more information on methodology, contact Rod Suarez, at 703-838-1792 or rsuarez@trucking.org. Fuel Line is
a free ATA member benefit. For information about receiving this report electronically, email econdept@trucking.org. Non-members can get subscription information by
calling, toll free, 866-821-3468.
ISSN 1942-3071