It couldn’t come at a better time with peak RV’ing season just around the corner. Crude oil for January delivery declined $1.54, or 3.5%, to $42.06 a barrel today on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures dropped to $40.20, the lowest price since July 14, 2004. Prices have plummeted 72% from a record $147.27 in July.

That’s not necessarily good news for those invested in oil stocks or futures, but it is great news for those of us that don’t like to let our RV’s set in one place for very long. That should translate to noticeably lower diesel and gasoline prices by spring if the trend continues.

We’re currently in Missouri at the moment and the local price for diesel has fallen to $2.15 per gallon. I know people are watching fuel prices very closely because the number of people logging onto CoolRVToyz.com and using the fuel prices widget to check the price in their local area has increased over 7 fold in the last 6 months. If you haven’t been on the web site lately, check out the fuel prices widget. It’ll keep you informed where to get the lowest fuel prices.

According to OPEC president Chakib Khelil, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed that the group’s 11 members with quotas will trim current production by 2.46 million barrels a day to 24.845 million barrels a day OPEC has held four meetings in the last four months.

“It’s less than meets the eye,” said Lawrence Eagles, global head of commodities research at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “This may stem the bloating in stocks but isn’t enough to get rid of the surplus.”

“They are facing the distinct possibility of oil falling to $30 a barrel and even lower,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research for Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “They have to bring supply down further because they aren’t getting any help on the demand front until the second half of next year at the earliest.”

“There is nothing bullish in these numbers,” said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president of global energy futures at Macquarie Futures USA Inc. in New York. “The OPEC announcement looks big on first glance but really isn’t. They are playing with smoke and mirrors.”

Looks like “Happy RV’ing …” may actually be in store for us this summer.

Phil King