Party is over — gas prices jump again

www.zwire.com STEVE WHITWORTH, The Telegraph March 05, 2003

Gasoline prices got fatter on Fat Tuesday, jumping by as much as 12 cents a gallon at many area stations. "I don’t know what’s causing that to occur," said Mike Right, veteran analyst with the AAA Auto Club of Missouri. When told about the 12-cent increases reported Tuesday in the River Bend, Right said he had received similar reports from the Missouri side of the St. Louis metropolitan area. "Up until this morning, we had seen a fairly consistent -- although modest -- decrease almost on a daily basis in St. Louis, beginning Feb. 14, when we saw gas prices hit $1.70 a gallon," Right said. "As of this morning, prices had come down to $1.55 per gallon, a 15-cent per-gallon drop, with only one day showing an increase during that period. I guess that was short-lived." Higher prices were posted Tuesday at gas stations around Alton, including the QuikTrip in Godfrey, where the price went up by 12 cents per gallon for self-service, unleaded regular gasoline to $1.67. The increase was the same at the Piasa Pantry on Illinois Route 3 in Hartford, where the price started the day at $1.55 and ended at $1.67. The manager of the Piasa Pantry, who gave her name only as Vicki, said few customers had complained about the increase. "Everybody’s got their own views about it," she said. "The price has been up for so long, I think everybody is getting complacent about it." An employee at the Amoco station at 1660 East Broadway in Alton said it had raised prices by 5 cents a gallon Tuesday, also boosting its price for regular unleaded to $1.67 per gallon. On the Missouri side of the St. Louis metro area, the average price Monday for a gallon of self-service, regular unleaded gas, as shown by the Auto Club’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report, was $1.57, Right said. He said that price actually had fallen in Tuesday morning’s AAA survey to $1.55, but a survey later Tuesday of 15 area stations showed the prices going up as the day went on. "Of the 15 stations we track, one went up 12 cents a gallon," Right said. "There will be a majority of them that will go up by double digits, maybe 10 cents or 11 cents, or maybe by 8 cents. Sooner or later, the overall average is going to go north." Right noted that wholesale gasoline prices have increased recently. "Supplies are not what they should be," he said. "Crude oil prices are crazy, going up and down. Right now, they’re at $36 a barrel. "Wholesale gasoline is above $1 a gallon. Things are not good." Right noted oil supplies have been falling, with the labor crisis in Venezuela contributing to the decrease, as well as a cutback in production of 2 million barrels announced last year by the OPEC nations. "We’re seeing a continuing increase in demand for the product and a continuing decrease in availability," he said. "We can expect prices to continue to rise." The political situation in the Middle East, particularly the showdown between the United States and Iraq, also is having an effect on gas prices, Right said. "Analysts suggest that $5 to $10 of the cost of a barrel of oil currently is directly attributable to anxiety over what’s going on in the Middle East," he said. "Unfortunately, oil is a speculative commodity." swhit6@hotmail.com