Aurora, Ill., U.S.A. — AAA Chicago’s most recent Fuel Gauge Report estimates that in Illinois, the average regular unleaded gasoline prices decreased $.08 in July with an average cost of $3.60 for the month. This price is $.27 lower than last year. This is despite the price increases at the end of July, which were largely due to production issues at refineries in Whiting, IN and Lemont, IL.

In northern Indiana, gas prices averaged $3.56 in July, which is down $.06 from June 2012 and down $.27from July 2011. Gas prices for both Illinois and Indiana mark the third-highest average price for July ever recorded.

“Illinois, Indiana and states in the Midwest have seen prices rise since last week due to  production issues at the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana and the Citgo refinery in Lemont, Illinois,” said Beth Mosher, Director of Public Affairs for AAA Chicago. “With the supply from these refineries impacted, and the associated increase in wholesale prices already seen in the region, there is reason to suspect that prices in the areas supplied by these facilities may continue to rise until the situation is resolved.”

Illinois’ daily price on July 31, 2012 of $3.71 (not monthly average) was the 6th highest in the country. The five states with the highest gas prices include: Hawaii ($4.148), Alaska ($3.995), Conn. ($3.818), Calif. ($3.802) and N.Y. ($3.767).

Other monthly averages across the region:

• In Cook County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.83, which is down $.10from last month and $.26 lower than last year’s price-per-gallon.
• In DuPage County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.70 per gallon, which is a 7-cent decrease from June and down $.24 from last year.
• In Kane County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.68 per gallon, which is down $.08 compared to last month and $.25 lower than July 2011′s price.
• In Lake County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.68 per gallon, which is$.09 lower than last month and down by $.23 compared to this time last year.
• In McHenry County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.67 per gallon, which is $.08 lower than last month’s average and $.23 lower than July 2011′s price.
• In Will County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.65 per gallon, which is $.06lower compared to last month and $.23 lower compared to last year.
• In Champaign County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.41 per gallon, a decrease of $.06 from June and a decrease of $.27 from last year.
• In McLean County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.37 per gallon, which is$.12 lower than last month and $.35 lower than last year.
• In Peoria County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.46 per gallon, which is down $.11 compared to last month and down $.29 from July 2011.
• In Sangamon County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.43 per gallon, which is $.03 lower than last month and $.29 lower than last year.
• In Winnebago County, Ill., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.49 per gallon, a decrease of $.10 from June and $.26 lower than July 2011.
• In Allen County, Ind., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.44 per gallon, which is a decrease of $.09 from last month and $.28 lower than July 2011′s price.
• In Lake County, Ind., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.56 per gallon, a 7-centdecrease from June’s average and a $.21 decrease from a year ago.
• In Porter County, Ind., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.56 per gallon, which is $.04 lower than last month and $.24 lower than last year.
• In St. Joseph County, Ind., self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averages $3.47 per gallon, which is $.10 lower compared to last month and $.27 lower compared to last year.

Fuel prices are posted on-line at www.fuelgaugereport.com, which updates prices daily for unleaded, diesel and E85 blends of fuel.

Image Courtesy of  Snap Man

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The U.S. natural gas market is going to have to change dramatically for pipeline developers to salvage their plan to ship gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 states, a key federal official said today at the Platts Energy Podium.

“It is going to take a big turnaround in the market, no doubt about it,” Larry Persily, federal coordinator of Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects, said at the newsmaker event in Washington, D.C. TransCanada and ExxonMobil have been working with state and federal officials on plans to build a $40 billion, 48-inch-diameter pipeline from the North Slope to the Canadian border, where Canadian pipelines would carry gas to the Lower-48.

However, shale gas development has dampened U.S. demand for the gas, and North Slope producers BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil met with the Alaska Governor, Sean Parnell, last week to discuss alternatives to the project, including a pipeline to a new liquefied natural gas export project.

After the meeting, BP CEO, Bob Dudley, and ConocoPhillips CEO, Jim Mulva, said the LNG project seemed to be a better way to get the gas to market, casting growing doubts on the viability of the pipeline. On Tuesday, Persily acknowledged that the pipeline’s future hinges on the producers. “It is going to take concurrence of the three producers.

They are the ones that control the vast majority of the leased acreage, the production coming out of there. They are the ones that are going to have to sign 20-year firm shipping commitments on the pipeline worth more than $100 billion.” Persily said he thought the project had a 50-50 chance of being constructed by 2020. “I haven’t given up on the project. … What it would take is the companies believing the market is there at a sufficient price.”

He also noted that there are key benefits to building the pipeline instead of the LNG project. The Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act provides federal loan guarantees for the pipeline, and $21 billion worth of guarantees are currently authorized, he said. The law also allows for accelerated depreciation for the pipeline and an enhanced oil recovery investment tax credit for the gas treatment plant, which together are worth more than $1 billion in tax savings, he added.

“All that applies if you build a pipeline to move gas to the Lower 48. If it is an exclusively export-only line, unless federal law is changed, you don’t get those benefits,” Persily said. Meanwhile, the United States Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, also speaking at the Podium event, said the U.S. is working to give Shell an answer on the company’s plans to drill several exploratory wells this summer in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.

Hayes, who was appointed by President Obama to chair an interagency task force on Alaska energy development, said meetings at both a secretarial and staff level are being held regularly on Shell’s plans. ”We are committed to give them a timely up or down,” Hayes said.

The Interior Department has already given conditional approval to Shell’s exploration plans for the Beaufort and Chukchi. But the company has yet to submit applications for individual permits to drill specific wells, Hayes said. Hayes also said Interior will not budge on a condition that Shell end its drilling program about 38 days short of the time the company had requested. Hayes said the time was needed for the drilling of a relief well in the event of a blowout.

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