Fuel & Energy

The two big public fuel prints of the summer say the same thing in different networks: cents per gallon carried earnings, and same-store gallon growth was the scarce line.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly U.S. retail averages for the week ended Aug. 31: regular $4.071, midgrade $4.680, premium $5.070, on-highway diesel $5.599.

EIA posts weekly retail gasoline and diesel by PADD every Monday. Operators who price off the U.S. regular headline are reading the wrong line.

Murphy USA’s 40.6-cent fuel contribution and Couche-Tard’s 52.61-cent U.S. margin are both real. They are not the same period, the same definition, or the same network.

Alimentation Couche-Tard posted a U.S. road-transport fuel margin of 52.61 cents a gallon for the quarter ended July 19, up 8.61 cents, while U.S. same-store fuel volumes fell 1.6 percent.

EIA’s weekly retail averages for the week ended Aug. 24 put U.S. regular at $4.085 and on-highway diesel at $5.652. Midgrade was $4.680 and premium $5.060.

Murphy USA said that if second-half all-in fuel margins average 35 cents per gallon, against 37.9 cents in the first half, it expects about $636 million of net income and about $1.25 billion of adjusted EBITDA.

Murphy USA reported second-quarter fuel contribution of 40.6 cents per gallon, up from 32.0 cents a year earlier, with total retail gallons up 3.9 percent.

Murphy USA’s second quarter ended June 30. Until the company reports, the desk is watching three lines: cents per gallon, gallons, and inside unit margin.

Before the June quarter prints, a fuel desk separates gallons, cents per gallon, and the inside unit margin. One blended “sales” line hides which machine paid.