Helena, MT
#150 of 422 U.S. rack markets by terminals
- terminals
- 2
- pipeline systems delivering
- 1
- refineries in market
- 0
- refineries supplying market
- 3
- people in the trade area
- 108,270
- gal/day gasoline · estimated demand
- 162,041
- gal/day diesel · estimated demand
- 101,035
Terminals in this market
| Terminal | TCN | Location | Delivered by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Par Montana LLC | T-81-MT-4009 | Helena, MT | Yellowstone Pipeline |
| Phillips 66 Pipeline - Helena | T-81-MT-4003 | Helena, MT | Yellowstone Pipeline |
Pipelines delivering to this market
Each system with a tariff delivery point at one of this market’s terminals, and how many running refineries can ship on it to here.
| Pipeline system | Terminals here | Delivery points | Refineries confirmed | All reachable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone Pipeline | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Refineries that can supply this market
| Refinery | Location | Via | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Par Montana Billings Refinery (formerly ExxonMobil Billings) | Billings, MT | Yellowstone Pipeline | confirmed |
| CHS Inc. Laurel Refinery (Cenex) | Laurel, MT | Yellowstone Pipeline | per research |
| Phillips 66 Billings Refinery | Billings, MT | Yellowstone Pipeline | per research |
Trade area
- people in the trade area · 2025 estimate
- 108,270
- rank of 422 rack markets by people
- #357
- gallons of gasoline a day · estimate, 2025
- 162,041
- gallons of diesel a day · estimate, 2025
- 101,035
- counties wholly in this market
- 0
- counties shared with other markets
- 13
| County | State | Share here | People counted here | Gasoline gal/day | Diesel gal/day | County population | Miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis and Clark County | MT | 63% | 47,135 | 49,916 | 18,705 | 75,331 | 41 |
| Silver Bow County | MT | 65% | 23,506 | 27,885 | 17,284 | 36,118 | 58 |
| Jefferson County | MT | 75% | 10,058 | 26,056 | 25,490 | 13,329 | 33 |
| Broadwater County | MT | 74% | 6,255 | 15,028 | 9,264 | 8,493 | 29 |
| Deer Lodge County | MT | 53% | 5,191 | 8,124 | 5,629 | 9,709 | 65 |
| Powell County | MT | 54% | 3,857 | 13,529 | 11,889 | 7,157 | 48 |
| Beaverhead County | MT | 34% | 3,422 | 7,494 | 6,825 | 10,043 | 110 |
| Glacier County | MT | 22% | 2,989 | 5,058 | 1,777 | 13,463 | 153 |
| Fergus County | MT | 17% | 1,951 | 2,615 | 1,084 | 11,825 | 137 |
| Lemhi County | ID | 23% | 1,946 | 2,652 | 1,366 | 8,474 | 147 |
| Meagher County | MT | 42% | 888 | 1,594 | 717 | 2,137 | 51 |
| Phillips County | MT | 17% | 695 | 1,134 | 538 | 4,203 | 221 |
| Wheatland County | MT | 18% | 375 | 953 | 467 | 2,100 | 101 |
Fuel demand is an estimate: each state’s taxed gallons for the year (FHWA) are split among its counties by where the driving happens (EPA county vehicle miles, weighted by how much fuel each vehicle type burns), then shared to markets as above. Every state adds back to its FHWA total. Gasoline includes the ethanol blended into it; diesel is FHWA’s special fuels. Expect diesel to be least reliable along long-haul corridors, where trucks buy fuel in one county and burn it in another. Population: U.S. Census Bureau county estimates.
How good is it? Checked in October 2026 against the county retail sales Iowa and California publish: for gasoline, about 3–5% of gallons landed in the wrong rack market and a typical market was within 5–6%. For diesel, 14–21% landed in the wrong market and a typical market was 30–45% off, with truck-stop corridors such as Bakersfield and Stockton under-counted. Treat gasoline as a working estimate and diesel as a rough guide.
Cost to serve this market by pipeline
What it costs to move a gallon here from a supply origin at filed tariff rates: line-haul, the cost of financing the product on the way and in the tank, pipeline loss, and terminaling. It is a cost at filed rates, not a market price: add it to the origin spot price for a delivered cost. The figure shown is the lowest route that starts where product enters the pipeline system; where a second pipeline is needed to reach here, both are costed. Lines marked "estimate" are placeholders until the pipeline or terminal figure is on file; in the routes table, * marks a figure taken from the tariff.
Gasoline: product adder
- ¢/gal · product adder
- 5.29
- ¢/gal · line-haul tariff · published
- 3.15
- ¢/gal · carrying cost · calculated
- 0.48
- ¢/gal · pipeline loss · published
- 0.16
- ¢/gal · terminaling · estimate
- 1.50
- days financed
- 9.6
Route used: from Billings, Montana on Yellowstone Pipeline to Helena, Montana (Montana P.S.C. No. 49.22 item Table of Rates).
How this adder is worked, line by line
| Line | ¢/gal | Basis | Source or working |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line-haul tariff | 3.147 | published | Yellowstone Pipeline Montana P.S.C. No. 49.22 item Table of Rates: Billings, Montana (Billings-area refineries) → Helena, Montana, 132.19 ¢/bbl |
| Carrying cost | 0.484 | calculated | $3.100000/gal × 5.9300% ÷ 365 × 9.612 days (2.112 in transit, 2.50 waiting on the cycle, 5.00 in terminal inventory); transit estimated: 203 pipeline miles at 4.0 mph (general estimate) |
| Pipeline loss | 0.155 | published | Yellowstone Pipeline Item 6 of the tariff, tender deduction: 0.05% of volume at $3.1000/gal = 6.51 ¢/bbl |
| Terminaling | 1.500 | estimate | Flat estimate: no fee on file for this terminal |
| Product adder | 5.287 | Sum of the lines above, over the origin spot price |
Diesel: product adder
- ¢/gal · product adder
- 5.63
- ¢/gal · line-haul tariff · published
- 3.15
- ¢/gal · carrying cost · calculated
- 0.74
- ¢/gal · pipeline loss · published
- 0.24
- ¢/gal · terminaling · estimate
- 1.50
- days financed
- 9.6
Route used: from Billings, Montana on Yellowstone Pipeline to Helena, Montana (Montana P.S.C. No. 49.22 item Table of Rates).
How this adder is worked, line by line
| Line | ¢/gal | Basis | Source or working |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line-haul tariff | 3.147 | published | Yellowstone Pipeline Montana P.S.C. No. 49.22 item Table of Rates: Billings, Montana (Billings-area refineries) → Helena, Montana, 132.19 ¢/bbl |
| Carrying cost | 0.743 | calculated | $4.760000/gal × 5.9300% ÷ 365 × 9.612 days (2.112 in transit, 2.50 waiting on the cycle, 5.00 in terminal inventory); transit estimated: 203 pipeline miles at 4.0 mph (general estimate) |
| Pipeline loss | 0.238 | published | Yellowstone Pipeline Item 6 of the tariff, tender deduction: 0.05% of volume at $4.7600/gal = 10.00 ¢/bbl |
| Terminaling | 1.500 | estimate | Flat estimate: no fee on file for this terminal |
| Product adder | 5.629 | Sum of the lines above, over the origin spot price |
Inputs and assumptions behind these figures
- Product value (for carrying cost and loss only): the prior day's spot price. Gasoline: OilPriceAPI GASOLINE_RBOB_USD, 2026-10-27. Diesel: OilPriceAPI HEATING_OIL_USD, 2026-10-27. These are the New York Harbor futures benchmarks, not a Gulf Coast price.
- Interest rate: SOFR 3.93% (2026-10-26) + 2.0 points.
- Transit (estimate): straight-line miles between the tariff origin and delivery point × 1.15, at 4.0 mph unless the pipeline has its own figure.
- Days financed (estimate): transit, plus half a 5-day shipping cycle waiting to lift (once for each pipeline on a two-pipeline route), plus 5 days of stock at the terminal.
- Pipeline loss: the charge or volume deduction the tariff states, where it states one (marked *; a deduction is costed at the product value above). Otherwise an estimate of 0.10% of product value per pipeline, two for a joint rate; that includes pipelines that share out actual losses without publishing a figure, and tariffs that state no loss term.
- Terminaling: the carrier's terminal charge where its tariff states one (marked *), otherwise a flat 1.5¢/gal estimate.
- Which route sets the figure: the lowest one that starts at a supply origin. On Colonial that is Houston. A rate that starts part-way along a pipeline, or at a secondary origin, stays in the table but does not set the figure. Where a rate starts at a point another carrier delivers to, the first carrier's lowest rate into that point is added, with its loss and time in the pipe; terminaling is charged once. The same is done where one pipeline files the movement as two rates. Which origins are treated this way is our own review of each system, not a statement in a tariff.
- Rates used: each pipeline's ordinary filed rate. Committed, volume-tier, discount and bid rates are left out, as are conditional fees (shown on each pipeline page), additives, taxes and the value of line space.
- Assumption set in force from 2026-10-01; review by 2027-01-01.
Published line-haul rates, all products and rate types
- ¢/gal · cheapest gasoline · from Billings, Montana on Yellowstone Pipeline
- 3.15
- ¢/gal · cheapest diesel · from Billings, Montana on Yellowstone Pipeline
- 3.15
- ¢/gal · cheapest jet fuel · from Billings, Montana on Yellowstone Pipeline
- 3.15
| Origin | Pipeline | Delivery point | Product | ¢/bbl | ¢/gal | Refineries at the origin | Tariff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billings, Montana (Billings-area refineries) | Yellowstone Pipeline | Helena, Montana per research | gasoline, distillate, jet fuel | 132.19 | 3.15 | CHS Inc. Laurel Refinery (Cenex); Par Montana Billings Refinery (formerly ExxonMobil Billings); Phillips 66 Billings Refinery | Montana P.S.C. No. 49.22 item Table of Rates |
Supply resilience
- pipeline supply
- One pipeline
- pipeline systems delivering
- 1
- terminals on two or more pipelines
- 0
- terminals with no pipeline tariff
- 0
One pipeline system delivers here: Yellowstone Pipeline. An outage on it leaves the market to truck, rail or water.
If a pipeline system goes down
| Pipeline system | Terminals it reaches here | With no other pipeline | Which |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone Pipeline | 2 | 2 | Par Montana LLC; Phillips 66 Pipeline - Helena |
Counts pipeline systems with a tariff delivery point here, not capacity, storage or contracts. A system with two lines into the market still counts once, and a terminal with one pipeline may also receive by truck, rail or water. For a refinery or pipeline outage across every market it touches, open that facility’s page.
Nearby rack markets
Rack markets within 75 miles (straight line): where a buyer here could also lift.
| Rack market | Miles | Terminals | Pipelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Falls, MT | 72 | 3 | 1 |
Rates are pipeline line-haul transcribed from published FERC tariffs; every figure cites its tariff and item. Cost to serve (netback) adds origin spot price and destination fees. "Confirmed" links match a tariff delivery point to the facility; "same city" means the point is in the facility's city — plausible, not proof; "per research" means the facility's research profile names the pipeline as an outlet.