Price of gas spikes - Price for regular tops $1.80 at some area stations

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By BILL WOLFE bwolfe@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal

UPDATE Last we knew: The last big surge in gasoline costs came in December, when some stations pumped up their prices by 10 cents to $1.50 a gallon and more for regular. In the following weeks, prices would edge up to about $1.60 to $1.65 per gallon.

The latest: After a week that saw prices drop by about a dime a gallon in Louisville, prices again spiked Tuesday night, with some stations raising prices by 20 to 25 cents. Now prices range from around $1.55 per gallon in Southern Indiana to more than $1.80 a gallon in parts of Louisville.

Why it's news: Gasoline prices reflect short supplies of crude oil and worries about possible war in the Middle East. Some experts expect oil prices to move still higher.

For more info:

• AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report If you filled your car's gas tank Tuesday, it's OK to feel smug today: You probably saved a few bucks. Prices in most of the Louisville area shot up by 10 cents to 25 cents a gallon yesterday, topping $1.80 a gallon for regular and $1.95 for premium at some stations.

If your fuel gauge is headed toward "E" today, don't despair. There are still bargains around, especially if you can fill up in Southern Indiana, where some stations were still pumping regular for about $1.55 a gallon yesterday.

Why prices shot up so far and so fast is a mystery, said AAA Kentucky spokesman Roger Boyd. "I am as filled with questions as the motorists are right now. Other markets don't seem to be going through this."

Prices had been creeping up across much of the nation, even as Louisville gasoline costs were headed down. "We came down a dime over the past week, but now were are back up as much as 25 or 30 cents for a net 15-cent increase," Boyd said.

In the past, such large overnight increases had only been seen in times of wars or embargos, Boyd said.

The Kentucky attorney general's office was getting complaints about the price increases yesterday, but price changes are "a national issue," said spokeswoman Jennifer Deans. "It's the market reacting to a whole lot of different forces."

Nate Potter pumped $20 worth of gasoline at the Chevron station at Eighth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. He said he just goes with the flow. He spends more than $100 a week on gasoline and said worrying doesn't help. PHOTOS BY PAT McDONOGH, THE COURIER-JOURNAL Still, if consumers notice one station charging prices much higher than other stations in the same area, they can notify the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division at www.law.state.ky.us/cp/forms/consumer.htm or by calling (888) 432-9257, she said.

Linda Casey, spokeswoman for Speedway gasoline stations, said the higher prices reflect increased costs for oil, which climbed about 5 percent to $37.93 a barrel before closing at $37.70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. That's close to the previous post-Gulf War high of $37.80 on Sept. 20, 2000.

The U.S. Department of Energy reported yesterday that crude oil inventories fell by 1 million barrels last week and are more than 16 percent below their levels one year ago. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been pumping more oil, but it may not get here until next month, analysts said.

Speedway had raised prices about a dime a gallon since Tuesday, Casey said. In Findlay, Ohio, home of parent Marathon Ashland Petroleum, Speedway gasoline was $1.74 a gallon for regular, she said. In Michigan, a gallon cost about $1.79. Louisville and Covington, Ky., were at $1.74, and gasoline in Indiana was about a penny less, she said. "Prices are fairly consistent."

She said an oil-supply crunch stemming from an oil strike and economic turmoil in Venezuela, coupled with concerns about a war with Iraq, helped push crude oil prices sky high. Some station managers and owners said they were puzzled — and disappointed — by the price rise. When wholesale prices go up rapidly, gasoline stations have to pass on the increase, even if it costs sales, said Dave Jones, who owns a BP station on Fern Valley Road.

A BP station on Fern Valley Road was charging $1.81 cents a gallon yesterday for regular unleaded. "When gas was going up 2 or 3 cents, it wasn't bad. But when it goes up 10 cents, that's your whole profit" unless the increases are passed along, said Jones, whose pumps were set at $1.81 a gallon for regular.

The Chevron station at Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Eighth Street sold regular gasoline yesterday for $1.69 a gallon, up 4 cents from the day before, said Bob Arnold, a partner in the station.

Arnold said he saw several other stations raise prices 25 cents a gallon, but he tries to avoid such price spikes. "I think it makes you look really bad," he said.

Business was a little slow yesterday, he said, even though gasoline cost less at his station than at many competitors. "Prices will hurt business. It always does," he said. "A lot of people just park their car."

Not Nate Potter, who pumped $20 worth of gasoline into his Chevy van at the station, said it was either that or "park it and take TARC" buses.

Potter, who spends $100 to $120 a week for gasoline, said worrying about prices doesn't help. "Just go with the flow," he said. "If you need it, you need it."

But Ray Stump of Hillview said he would like to fight high gasoline prices — if there were way. 

"I don't know what we can do about it," Stump said as he filled his tank at a Court Avenue BP station in Jeffersonville. "If the American people really got together, maybe we can change things."

Mike Parada of Rensselaer, Ind., about 220 miles north of Louisville, said drivers in the Louisville area are getting a good deal compared with prices he's seen recently in Chicago and California.

At the Court Avenue BP station, regular gasoline was $1.55 per gallon. "Gas is reasonable here," Parada said. "I'm grateful."