COST OF PREMIUM GAS SKYROCKETS

Sales of higher-octane fuel in the United States is at a 14-year high, with a larger gap between the price of regular and premium.

SAVE MONEY! = E15 Octane Is 89-90

​ALEXANDRIA, Va. October 4, 2017; NACS reported that U.S. sales of premium gas has risen to a 14-year high recently, fueled by late-model vehicles requiring higher-octane gasoline, Bloomberg reports. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the difference between regular unleaded gasoline and premium stands at 50 cents, the highest in recent memory.

“Demand for premium has led to a supply imbalance,” said Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president of strategic industry initiatives. “Because of that, there are some wider spreads than there traditionally were.”

Luxury car sales, which usually are designed for premium fuel, have increased more than 8% between 2006 and 2016, according to Edmunds. Also, smaller engines in cars like the Ford Escape have to meet federal standards known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), which needs higher-octane fuel. With federal fuel-efficiency standards tightening, some analysts are predicting that soon 30% of U.S. vehicles will need the more costly fuel.

“We’ve seen, in the last year, 15% growth,” said István Kapitány, Shell’s executive vice president of retail. “It’s very important for consumers to be absolutely sure that they buy the highest quality of fuel for their vehicles.”

Sales of premium gasoline rose 20% to nearly 43 million gallons per day by 2016, according to the Energy Department. Tom Kloza, chief analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, noted that with a decade, the federal government will mandate the average passenger vehicle to get 55 miles per gallon, which will mean engines requiring higher octane levels in the fuel. “There’s a bright future for higher-octane gasoline, but most of the consumption will come thanks to the requirements of high-compression engines as opposed to a natural move by consumers,” he said.