War on Iraq, warm weather raise gasoline prices

www.wisinfo.com Mon, Jan 13, 2003

Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers and The Associated Press Wisconsin motorists are paying an average of 18 cents more per gallon for gasoline than they did in December, and prices are expected to climb steadily over the next three months.

"This is a time of year when typically gas prices are down, but obviously that's not happening," said Mike Bie, a spokesman for the Wisconsin AAA.

Local gas prices per gallon

Location Unleaded Premium Marshfield The Store $1.51 $1.67 Baltus Bread & Butter Shop $1.51 $1.67 Weiler Convenience Store $1.51 $1.66 Abbotsford Abbotsford Oil $1.52 $1.72 Stratford Central Wisconsin Co-op $1.52 $1.59

Wisconsin motorists on average paid $1.53 per gallon of unleaded gasoline this week, compared with last month's average state price of $1.35 per gallon.

Jim Maurer, a salesman from Spencer, said the climbing prices will not affect how much he'll drive his GMC Yukon. Every week, Maurer spends $60 to $90 on gas.

"Gas prices vary from 10 cents to 20 cents over or under what they are right here. I'll use the gas wherever I go," Maurer said, as he waited for his car to get washed at Baltus Bread & Butter Shop, 539 S. Central Ave.

Even if war is averted in Iraq, motorists should be ready to pay at least a dime a gallon more for gasoline this spring, the Energy Depart-ment says. Turmoil in Venezuela - including an oil workers' strike - has shut down oil production. Imports from Venezuela probably won't return to normal before summer - if then.

Last year, Venezuela shipped about 1.5 million barrels a day of crude and refined gasoline into the United States, about 13 percent of U.S. imports.

Only five states - Rhode Island, New York, Connec-ticut, Alaska and Hawaii - and Washington, D.C., had gas prices this week that on average were higher than Wisconsin, according to the AAA. Part of that has to do with the state's gasoline tax, Bie said. The current state tax is 31.1 cents per gallon, with 18.4 cents per gallon taxed by the federal government.

An impending war with Iraq could send those prices even higher. Economists and energy experts have said serious worldwide crude shortages could develop if war erupts in Iraq and the country's imports disappear while Venezuela's oil fields remain crippled.

"We were paying higher prices in September with speculation that we were going to war with Iraq," Bie said.

A warm, snow-free winter even has hurt gas company sales, too. "Lack of snow has been more of a factor than prices," said Jim Cooper, of Cooper Oil, 2172 Prairie St. "We're not getting the snowmobile traffic we would normally get this time of year." Amy E. Bowen contributed to this story.