Mid-County Newsletter MCnewsletter-spring08

Mid-County Messenger Mid-County Coop Contact Information General Manager Bill Reimers [phone] [email protected] Agronomy Manager Dave Eckhoff [phone] [email protected] Agronomist Joe Forner [phone] [email protected] Agronomy Production Specialist Doug Kraska [phone] [email protected] Certified Energy Specialist Rafael Lozada [phone] [email protected] Service Manager Don Harmsen [phone] [email protected] Petroleum Operations Quay Zander [phone] [email protected] Cenex Convenience Store Cologne Manager Del Gallup [phone] [email protected] Vol. 13 Spring 2008 www.midcountycoop.com Where does it all come from? Fuels and gasoline for our area comes from three places for the most part. The Flint Hills Refinery, the Marathon Refinery (both are south of St. Paul), and then there is the Minneapolis terminal that is connected to a major pipe- line. Flint Hills and St. Paul Park actually refine crude oil, whereby Minneapolis is a ter- minal which is supplied by the Magellan pipeline that stretch- es from Canada to Texas. Our crude oil for the two refineries comes mostly from Canada but also all the way from th,e Gulf of Mexico. As you can see on page 5, we have crude oil pipelines all over the US. This does not include our gasoline and diesel fuel pipelines that are actually more extensive. We also have a new pipe- line being built soon from northern Minnesota to Flint Hills, which actually is com- ing through Carver County, to offer an additional supply of crude oil to the refinery for future growth. Bill Reimers General Manager [phone] [email protected] Even though gasoline inven- tories at this point are at the highest levels since 1993, why are the prices still so high? For the most part it is that, over $2 per gallon is the cost of the crude oil to make the gas, then, there is the transporta- tion, taxes, etc. running the price up over $3 per gallon. Last year crude oil was $58, versus $110 today. Diesel fuel on the other hand has lower inventories than a year ago and prices have gone wild with the cold winter and continued strong demand. Another big factor with pric- es is the value of the dollar. A Controller Dick Pauly year ago the dollar was worth $.84 to the Euro, as of today it is less than $.72. This means that when we import crude oil or any other product, the seller from the foreign country gets less for their money than they did a year ago. Com- pounding this is that invest- ment funds have found things such as grains, gold, and crude oil a good investment to beat inflation. Last fall, many of the out- lying terminals, such as Mankato, Alexandria, and Sauk Center were out of prod- uct. This meant that the trucks from those terminals were now drawing off of our supply in the Twin Cities. This meant long lines at our terminals to get product. Fortunately we were able to continue sup- plying our customers with fuels, because we were able to pick up our products with our own truck. The fuel transport companies were several days behind. We have no crystal balls to predict where the prices are Continued on page 5 [phone] [email protected] 700 W. Lake St. Cologne, MN [phone] Office [phone] Fax www.midcountycoop.com H O N E S T Y • I N T E G R I T Y [phone] • 888-466-3700 700 West Lake Street, P.O. Box 177, Cologne • VA L U E