Talking about your wild road trips, how about the trip that fuel prices are on these days. No, no they’re not crazy, crazy like the summer of 2008 but they just move on any little noise. Like a deer in the woods.
Good friend of Sokolis’s, Tom Klosa, chief oil analyst for OPIS says “forecasting anything beyond 90 days makes witchcraft look like some sort of exact science.” He’s right. Heck, forecasting beyond a month is near impossible. Did anyone take notice that the price of crude oil went up $12 a barrel in October? Did you miss that? How about 22 cent for diesel fuel and 20 cents for gas prices?
Your asking yourself, I thought we have a lot of fuel inventory? I remember reading articles saying that we were swimming in fuel. This is very true so why the wild ride?
The price of crude oil and diesel fuel are no longer tied to supply and demand but tied to the economy. As there are signs that the economy is improving, these products move higher, trying to stay out ahead of the curve. If news is reported that the economy is slowing down, the price of crude oil and diesel fuel go down.
Klosa says, “If you ask me, what do you expect next year, will oil prices be $50 a barrel or $100 a barrel, I’d say, yes.” He also said that we may see something on the order of diesel fuel prices varying from just over $2 to maybe around $3.25 or so.
Wow! Now, if that kind of news doesn’t make you happy that you have Sokolis as your fuel management company, I don’t know what will. Actually, if you’re not a fuel consulting client, you should be. You will need help with your fuel planning program and it looks like you should consider doing some fuel price protection programs unless you really like the roller coaster. It looks like we could be on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride for fleet fuel management in 2010. Buckle in.
Sokolis is a fuel management, fuel planning and fuel consulting company that helps its clients with fuel programs to lower their fuel prices, improve their back office fuel processes and in depth fuel audits to prevent fuel theft and fuel overcharges. www.FuelManagementSokolisGroup.com
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