Regular unleaded gas was selling for $2.89 a gallon at Buc-ees in Daytona Beach Sunday evening as Thanksgiving travelers were returning home–as low a price as the Flagler-Volusia region has known since the war in Ukraine triggered soaring prices at the beginning of the year.
But the difference in price locally could be startling, with a 60-cent-per-gallon gap between prices at Buc-ees and at gas stations in Palm Coast, or a $9 difference for a 15-gallon fill-up.
On Monday, the average price for a gallon of unleaded in Florida was $3.384, with the lowest prices–near or below $3–in the far western Panhandle, and the highest prices in South and North-central Florida, including in Flagler County, where the average was $3.50, nearer the national average of $3.55.
Prices along Palm Coast Parkway and State Road 100 this morning were in the $3.45 to $3.49 a gallon range, falling to $3.39 toward Flagler Beach and Bunnell a few stations closer to $3.55 elsewhere. The average price in Volusia was almost 20 cents lower, with most stations between Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach selling gas below $3.30. This morning Buc-ees continued to sell regular for $2.89, and Sam’s Club, where members of the wholesale club could buy gas, was selling it for $2.81.
Last week Florida gas prices dropped an average of 7 cents per gallon as millions of Floridians took the roads. State average prices have been on a 17-day streak of decline, with still lower prices expected ahead. On Monday, oil was trading at $77 a barrel, the lowest price all year, capping a 20 percent drop over the past three weeks. It was last that low in the first week of the year, when trend was going in the opposite direction.
“Gas prices are being pressured lower by steep drops in the price of oil, and strong gains in domestic gasoline supplies,” said Mark Jenkins, AAA’s spokesman. “Unless there’s a shift in fundamentals, the state average could sink even lower this week, with the potential of dipping below $3.30 per gallon in the next week or two.”
Meanwhile, oil companies have been piling up unprecedented profits. “Net income for the world’s oil and gas producers,” the Paris-based International Energy Agency reports in its annual outlook, “is set to double in 2022 to an unprecedented $4 trillion,” or one-fifth the size of the entire American economy, and more than the entire economic output of Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy. Put another way: oil and gas company profits amount to $500 for every living human being on the planet, whose population just surpassed the 8 billion mark.
Exxon alone reported profits of $20 billion just for the three-month period between July and September, breaking its record, set in the previous record, by 10 percent. While other stocks have been falling, Exxon’s stock has continued to rise, reaching a record $114 just before the Thanksgiving break, up from $61 before the war in Ukraine–an 86 percent increase.
Chevron reported profits of $11.2 billion. Shell reported profits of $9.5 billion in the third quarter of the year, double the profits it recorded in the same period the previous year. BP had profits of $8.2 billion. Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil-producing monopoly and the world’s largest, reported profits of $42.4 billion just in the third quarter.
Jim099 says
Palm Coast gas stations have always been as “one Team”. Always higher than Volusia or St. Johns county stations and there is no reason other than they know they can get away with it. That’s why I wait until I need to go north or south for something and gas up outside of Palm Coast. All the Circle K’s and others all know what they are going to charge, and they work together to keep it above what Volusia or St. Johns charges.
Has been like this for years and isn’t going to change until someone looks into it. I don’t want to hear “it’s the tax” or “PC is further for these companies to travel to”. These higher gas prices affect everything else people in Palm Coast pay. Your service vendors like lawn, AC, etc. have to charge more because they all buy gas locally.
Went shopping this weekend off LPGA and yes Buckee’s was significantly lower. Understanding they probably pay less because of volume sales but over 0.60 difference???? The circle K’s should have higher purchase volume too seeing they are on every corner in town. I paid 2.81 at Sam’s while down there.
I am lucky that I am retired and only have to fill up once every 3 weeks or so. But when I do, it’s outside of PC.
Ray W. says
Jimo99 must be the alter ego to Jimbo99. Jimo99 appears to be the one who possesses intellectual curiosity and posts informative comments. Jimbo99 usually starts with an informative comment and then goes off the rails. Oy vey!
David Schaefer says
Well stated these idiots seem to charge what they want it has been this way for at least 30 years. Let these gated community clowns do it we will continue never buy gas here….
Jonathan says
So, why are the prices higher in Flagler County?
S. Peters says
Flagler County is price gouging gas. It’s BS. Someone in Government better do something. We’re all not wealthy gated community residents.
Joe says
The oil Companies have been taking advantage of US consumers and have been profiteering on the circumstances. They are the prime reason for inflation. The Oil Companies Can’t be Trusted. I’m not sure of what actions to take, but we just can’t let them get away with hurting America.
Claiming Oil Commodities is what sets prices doesn’t take into account that the Crude Oil Prices per barrel peaked in 2008 at $142 per barrel. Today prices are at $77 per barrel.
The Oil Company executives need to be called in to testify in a congressional hearing to explain why the prices were so much higher in the summer compared to the peak Crude commodity prices in 2008.
See the Commodity prices yourself, after you click on the link, click on MAX to see the chart of Crude oil prices per barrel all the way back to 2000.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CL=F?p=CL=F&.tsrc=fin-srch
Herman says
[Do not use this site to spread disinformation. Thanks.–FL]
You do realize that income is not at its highest and profits are up partially because they are not being allowed to invest in new drilling, pipelines etc…. So the money they are making is going in their investors pockets. What would you do if the President of the United States and it’s idiotic administration said they are going to put you out of business? I love capitalism….
Ray W. says
Herman presents as an intellectually incurious commenter.
Just before the pandemic hit, the number of active drilling rigs hovered around 770. When I last checked a couple of weeks ago, the number of active drilling rigs was approximately 790. Of course, when America was rebounding from the housing recession in place when Obama took office, there were as many as nearly 2000 drilling rigs in operation, so we are far from utilizing the maximum number of rigs available to American energy companies. During the Obama administration, I paid $1.49 per gallon for gas one day. This is what happens when too many rigs drill for oil. Prices dropped so low that oil companies lost money on their crude oil production, so they stopped drilling. Eventually, demand caught up with supply and oil companies made money again. North America is unique in the world in that many of its shale rock fields contain oil, many of the shale rock fields are of a type that it conducive to fracking, and most of the oil-bearing shale rock fields have adequate access to water. China, too, has large shale rock fields containing oil, but the structure of the rock is not conducive to fracking and most of the shale formations are in deserts, without adequate access to water.
Most of the rigs in operation are of the horizontal drilling type. Vertical rigs are used to drill new wells. Horizontal rigs can be used in already existing wells. The drilling rigs use the already existing vertical hole and drill sideways at the selected depth, like bicycle spokes. When the new horizontal holes are fracked, new supplies of crude oil are released from the shale formation and pumped out from the old vertical well. When production drops, new spokes can be horizontally drilled and fracked. This is why the Permian Basin oil field, first drilled over a century ago, is producing more crude oil per day than at any other time in its history.
Of course, the pipelines that have long serviced the Permian Basin oil field continue to transport crude to Houston to be refined or exported via tanker to other ports in the U.S. or around the world.
We are producing just over 12 million barrels of crude oil per day, up from just over 5 million barrels of crude oil per day at the end of W’s administration.
Capitalism is a driver in the American energy industry. If a company has oil wells that already are producing 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day and OPEC votes to cut crude oil production and Russia invades the Ukraine, then that company will make a huge profit from its already existing wells, but it won’t be due to anything the Biden administration did. OPEC cutting production and Russia invading the Ukraine has impacted the supply side of the equation. Cut supply and keep demand at the same level and prices will rise.
It appears to be the case that U.S. energy companies are responding to the higher prices by hiring more drilling rigs to find new supplies of oil.
Like many commenters, Herman is barely right and massively wrong in his understanding of what is happening.
Perhaps the first thing Herman needs to internalize is the idea that crude oil is an international commodity, not a national one. Once one accepts that supply and demand for crude oil is a worldwide phenomenon, then it is an easy step to understand that forces external to the U.S. can affect crude oil prices and the corresponding prices we pay at the gas pump.
As I understand it, OPEC meets again this week to decide what its production figures will be in the short-term. American energy companies can drill all they want, but if OPEC votes to cut production again, any extra U.S. crude oil produced by new drilling will not drive down gasoline prices at the pump.
Bill C says
Fracking is unacceptable. The process creates vast amounts of wastewater, emits greenhouse gases such as methane, releases toxic air pollutants. Studies have shown these gas and oil operations can lead to loss of animal and plant habitats, species decline, migratory disruptions and land degradation. Green energy is the answer, along with conservation which starts with every individual. Personal peeve: cars/SUV’s/ trucks left running with no one inside, adding unnecessarily to global warming.
Ray W. says
I agree with Bill C. The problem is that we have kicked the can down the road for so many decades that it will take time to implement meaningful investments in clean renewable energy sources, investments that we could have implemented long ago, or at least attempted to do so long ago.
In the meantime, we need trains and trucks to deliver goods, electricity to run our industrial base, gasoline to drive our cars, lubricants to run all of these machines, and the list goes on and on.
Electrical demand worldwide rose faster last year than newly installed renewable energy sources. Buildings are inadequately insulated, and regulations are ignored or out of date. The list goes on and on.
We are not investing enough resources into developing solid state battery storage technologies. Lithium-ion battery storage carries its own environmental problems. The list goes on and on.
Decades ago, law enforcement agencies began using the term “proactive” policing, perhaps in recognition that in order to effect change, being reactive to problems meant one was always behind the curve. As a society, America seems to always be behind the curve in our approach to energy upgrades. As Pogo likes to comment, “and so it goes.”
Pogo says
@Ray W.
Actually, just an homage to Kurt Vonnegut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut
Ray W. says
I see that Chevron is running a commercial advertising its plan to increase crude oil production in the Permian Basin oil field to over 1 million barrels of crude oil per day by 2025. That’s just one American energy company in the Permian Basin may not have to drill new wells or build new pipelines. After all, it is cheaper to redrill with horizontal drilling rigs the many already existing wells and use already existing pipelines to transport that newly extracted oil than it is to drill new vertical wells and build new pipelines.
I also note that no one is commenting about the prediction that American diesel fuel supplies would be completely exhausted by Thanksgiving. Those gullible commenters might have listened to a Fox host who talked about diesel fuel supplies being down to under 26 days of reserves. Since my oldest daughter and her husband still work in the energy industry (gas turbine electrical production facilities), I am aware from general conversations that gas turbine repairs and maintenance occur when electricity demand is lowest, usually May and October, I thought it might be worth looking into when oil refineries shut down for repairs and maintenance. It turns out that September and October are peak months for shutting down refineries for repairs and maintenance. For example, last year’s monthly idle diesel refinery capacity, in thousands of barrels per day, was:
January – 446
February – 602
March – 1131
April – 612
May – 323
June – 256
July – 225
August – 254
September – 2,369
October – 999
November – 849
December – 416
One can infer from last year’s figures that when winter heating demand is highest, idle refinery capacity drops. When summer driving demand is highest, idle refinery capacity drops. Yet refineries need to be shut down for repairs and maintenance, so it seems that refinery owners choose to do so when demand is lowest.
Can one argue that the most gullible among us, i.e., those who listen to Tucker Carlson, were duped by his claim that we would run out of diesel fuel by Thanksgiving? Is it a better explanation to argue that refineries were simply shut down for repairs and maintenance in September and October, drawing down reserves during the shutdowns (the site I examined did not yet have idle refinery figures for September and October 2022)?
None of the travelling engineers at Mitsubishi are permitted to schedule vacations during peak repair and maintenance seasons. Of course, there are occasional “forced outages”, usually when a gas turbine facility experiences a mechanical incident. Emergency teams are called into the field, often working double shifts seven days a week for months at a time. I know that if an engineer works 21 straight days far from home, the company allows spouses or long-term significant others to fly to the area for a weekend or more. The engineer continues to work long hours but at least has family with him or her.
As an aside, a Colombian electrical generating facility was built in a valley, with earthen levees built based on a 100-year expected flood level. It flooded and the gas turbines needed to be rebuilt. Earthen berms were raised during the rebuild. A couple of years later a new record-setting flood breached the levees and it had to be completely rebuilt again.
Laurel says
Ray W.: Thank you for the info, very interesting. I will read it to my husband who is usually way ahead of me on such matters. The one thing I do understand is that these gas companies have to be gauging us on diesel. Diesel is the same fuel but less processed than gas, but we pay a good dollar more per gallon for our truck. That also means that most all our goods are transported by diesel, with the effect of our products costing us more. That simply can’t be right!
I’m always supportive of solar, which is the most abundant source of energy in our solar system. I’ve often given my husband a temporary cold shoulder for investing in Chevron. His argument, which has merit, is what happens to the planet as we harvest substances for the making of batteries? Also, how do we rid ourselves of these batteries when they are of no longer use? At this point, we have no serious means of recycling. I can’t answer his question. Any ideas on this part of the subject?
Ray W. says
Laurel, the answer to your question may hinge on the emerging emphasis on development of solid-state battery storage technology. GM just signed a multi-billion-dollar agreement with a company whose name I don’t remember to develop solid-state battery storage technology. Such technology will not require lithium-ion technology, with its concurring ecological problems, though I don’t know enough about the solid-state field to write about its own possible impacts on the environment. Lithium-ion batteries are considered “liquid state” technology. Solid-state battery technology promises lighter batteries that last longer and store far more energy than does liquid-state battery technology, but it is very expensive to produce these batteries right now.
Ray W. says
Laurel, regarding, diesel fuel prices, I can’t say I have ever seen a commenter on FlaglerLive mention “crack spread.” Crack spread is a term used in the refinery industry to describe the price difference between what a refinery owner pays for crude oil and what that same owner charges for its refined products. The difficulty occurs when the crude oil market is in constant flux. War, OPEC production cuts and a myriad of other issues can affect a refinery’s profit margins. When prices fluctuate wildly on a daily basis, a refinery owner will likely increase the crack spread to insulate it against potential losses. If a refinery owner contracts in January to buy crude oil at a set price for delivery in February, by the time it actually arrives at the refinery to be cracked (refined), the market for the sale of gasoline, diesel, plastics, greases, kerosene, etc., may be far different from what was anticipated. Rather than risk losing money, the refinery owner might choose to sell at a higher price than anticipated, causing the crack spread to be far higher than normal. Of course, if a company contracts to buy diesel fuel from the refinery in January and crude oil prices drop by February, then the profits go to the refinery owner. Predicting international crude oil prices carries great risks all along the supply chain, from drilling to transporting crude oil to refining to transporting refined petroleum products to distribution centers to trucks delivering to gas stations to gas station owners themselves. Each takes a measure of risk, and we all pay when one or more steps in the energy production and distribution chain experiences upheaval.
Pogo says
@Ray W.
No mention here of daisy chaining either. Or the inumerable foreign subsidiaries of the planet’s corporate overlords.
Ray W. says
So true, Pogo. On the other hand, the myriad complexities of the international energy marketplace would allow for never-ending commentary about the ways that the market can be manipulated. Any scheme created by the mind of mankind can be abused by the mind of mankind. As so it goes …
Pogo says
@Ray W.
Laurel says
Okay. I’ll have to read this again. Hubby got it, and explained it and I think I understand it about 75%. So, I imagine that the masses of gas users don’t care about diesel prices as it rises, but flip out when the gas, that they personally use, price rises. I think this because each measure of risk would be for both gas and diesel. The profit margin of diesel is greater than gas as it is a cheaper product than gas, making up for the loss on gas prices. The government gets the tax benefit as well. Like I said, I’ll read it again! Thanks!
Laurel says
Okay, I read it again outside of cocktail hour :) and I understand it better. It reminds me of how I thought it was baloney when an announced gas price rise would be reflected immediately at pumps. The gas was already in the ground tanks, purchased by the station before the increase!
Also, many of the comments here are about Flagler stations charging more than surrounding areas. When we lived in Palm Beach County, that county had an additional six cents per gallon tax that the surrounding counties did not have. Maybe Flagler does the same, I don’t know.
PeachesMcGee says
Flagler county gas station have always been higher than Volusia, especially the stations in Bunnell.
If I remember correctly, the gas stations in Bunnell are owned by one party. Years ago when asked about the disparity between prices in PC and Bunnell they stated they were in a special fuel area?
Shelly says
The gas at Bucees is cheap because that’s how they get people to shop in their store, it’s also cheap gas.
Laurel says
Oh, so it’s not the Biden-Harris agenda, it’s big oil making huge profits. Huh! Who knew? Well, ya gotta make those American investors happy (crickets from the right). What are the Republicans gonna bitch about now? Oh yeah, Hunter’s infamous laptop and the sinister Dr. Fauci. Hey, what else can we do to mess with Mikey Mouse? We could say Minnie Mouse is not as hot as Melania, or that Donald Duck was born in Kenya. How about Pluto was involved in the plot to assassinate Kennedy? I know we could get “okay” nods from DeSantis and Cruz.
Kat says
Corporate greed is just revolting. Thank you for publishing this, maybe it will help some people realize that politicians do not set gas prices.
Wow says
But! Republican talking point… high gas prices are caused by Biden… because they seem to be fine with corporate greed.
Vince says
From what I understand our county is still considered “rural” and we get charged more because of this terminology
Brian Larson says
These station owners know it’d cost us at least what they ate charging us to drive the 70 mile round trip to Volusia or St John’s counties to get cheaper gas so they gouge us knowing they got us by the short and curlies , we should all boycott them and make the trip anyway , make them sell.it to us cheaper than down or up there.
aj says
Get my gas at Sams. Palm Coast is just too high. Why are they so high? If enough people would go to Vol. or St. John’s county then probably gas in Palm will decrease. That is wishful thinking.
Celia Pugliese says
These oil barons making trillions in our hard earned funds depleted by the inflation they generated..? Families barely making it with 40,000 and below income then deserve that our President Biden enact a high windfall all time profit tax in oil companies and funds with it a one time pay check to those families for disastrous burden they endured given the high price of gas, food and clothing cost! To extreme gouging should be extreme revenue windfall special assesment tax to refund those affected families.
Celia Pugliese says
By the way I accepted the Palm Coast Parkway Shell offer of filling up minimum 20 gallons at $3.29 other than 3.49 displayed, using my fuel rewards ID. Probably my next fill up will be for much less.
Mark says
Went past the Shell at Belle Terre and Palm Coast Pkwy. last week and the price had dropped 25 cents to $3.24 that morning, by the following morning it was right back to $3.49. Meanwhile outside Palm Coast….
BigOilBigProfits says
Duh. It was all market manipulation to get people to vote against their best interests and vote for fascism and authoritarianism. The Saudi’s love Republicans and fascism and authoritarianism, they’d love nothing more than the US to crumble. Newsflash – inflation will end next year too, probably by end of Spring. Again, another corporate ploy. Why? Most corporations hate democracy and liberals because “gasp” we want to have them pay their fair share of taxes. Trickle down economics is the biggest scam – it’s a lie, a farce, and it doesn’t exist. They conned and brainwashed people into thinking it’s a thing. Everyone should be required to take Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, those courses explain 100% what happened, why, and who.
Gaslight says
Well, doesn’t capitolism require smart consumerism? Stop filling up in Flagler county. Not much more complex than that. If you need to fill up often, or even more than just once a month, then you’re likely driving out of Flagler anyways. Fill’er up then. Drive back home, past the various stations around town, and eventually those store owners will be forced to lower their prices. Don’t buy their gas. Don’t buy their milk, cigarettes, sodas, whatever. Buy nothing from them. Be a smarter consumer, or be separated from your hard earned money.
Whathehck? says
Thank you Ray W. for knowing the facts and educating us. Hopefully you opened just one obtuse mind, two would be a total victory.
Laurel says: you crack me up. LOL
C’mon man says
I get my gas at sams when I do my shopping. Luckily this area has provided this palm coast resident everything needed