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DouglasM
06-04-2010, 01:19 PM
One of my clients, who runs a Sunoco, now PetroCan, station, along with an AutoPro service shop, passed along a couple of observations:

On June 1, the differential per litre for premium fuels was increased. 91 octane had an 11¢/L difference to regular and 94 was 13¢/L. Now the difference is 13¢ and 15¢.

[For what it's worth, when I was in Winnipeg last summer, the difference was 7¢/L. Currently the difference is 10¢/L. Southern Ontario drivers are getting an extra rip-off. Wait until the HST kicks in!]

If you have Sunoco Performance Points, he recommends that you top up to get to your next redemption and redeem before your local Sunoco stations are gone. From his observations, you get less value in PetroPoints at point of sale and need more points to redeem than with Sunoco Performance Points. Any Performance Points not redeemed will at some point be converted to PetroPoints and you will receive a PetroPoints card in the mail.

This recent article does not compare the fuel company cards, but you might want to take a look. Note which card shows up last in their short list, ranked by "value":
MoneySense.ca: Which loyalty card offers the best rewards? (http://www.moneysense.ca/2010/05/19/which-loyalty-card-offers-the-best-rewards/)

In case you are wondering, my client's gas station is "marginal" in terms of making money. The gas station generates more retail revenue, but not much profit. Hence, the AutoPro shop. No surprise there.

alf
06-05-2010, 06:42 AM
It's a question of offer and demand. Once they piss off enough people and people get there car tune on 91 instead, they will be left in there corner... Next tune, most likely wont be on 94...

Remember Petro-Canada was consider has the worst managed Canadian oil company(of the large). If Sunoco didn't fired them all, well stupid decision like this makes his way trough the system...

LaszloT
06-07-2010, 08:55 AM
Grade spreads in the GTA and a few other key urban markets are 8 and 13 cents per litre (cpl). Sunoco (now branded Petro) has a super-premium fuel as you know (Ultra94) that costs 16 cpl above Regular fuel in these markets. It's good stuff.

Grade spreads are highest in urban areas, but are on the rise in most places across Canada.

In general, marketing of motor fuels is a mature industry with plenty of competition and tends to be a 6% return business, declining looking forward. Trucking is a 5% return business as a comparison.

Refining of fuels is a healthier industry, and tends to be a 18% return business, but requires collosal investment (11 Billion) and sophisticated expertise to design, develop and run.

In general, finding the stuff - oil exploration - has been the most attractive, but I expect the Gulf incident impact to change all that dramatically, with significantly greater requirements for existing offshore drilling, and huge barriers for any new off-shore drilling proposals.

This will cost more, reduce supply and impact the cost of crude and less-directly, refined energy products like gasoline, going forward. And yes, this upsets me along with everyone else, but I'm more focused on the environmental impact of that incident.

Oh yes, my car takes premium fuel, and I can't remember the last time when a litre of it cost less than a dollar, lol.

STeveD
06-07-2010, 08:58 AM
When I was travelling in the U.S. there were a lot of places where 91 is 20 cents more per gallon than 87. Yes, that's about 5 cents difference.

Gotta love competition.

Robin
06-07-2010, 01:14 PM
ultramar for the win..... thursday is 3cents less for supreme (91)... so 91 is only 7 cents more than regular (here in ottawa) and in quebec it's only 6cents more.

not sure if there's any Ultramar stations in lower Ontario.

DouglasM
06-07-2010, 09:56 PM
I remember paying 1.2¢/L extra above Sunoco 87 for 92 octane and another 1¢/L "Gold 93.5" when I had a turbo Daytona. Actually, it doesn't take much remembering, because I came across a box of receipts and car documents in the basement a few months ago.

Regular has roughly doubled in price in that time period, but the premium for premium (now 91 octane instead of 92) has gone up tenfold.

I'm with Steve - nothing like some competition.

I don't mind any company earning a decent return on their investment and risk taken. I do mind being taken advantage of by marketing and B.S. (says the former product/brand manager with a B. Com. (Marketing) and M.B.A. (International Business and Marketing)).

Robin - I think the closest Ultramar to the GTA is in Belleville.