Gas Prices Surging Toward $4
By JAKE STUMP
Inside * Senator Byrd reacts to McCains gas tax proposal /5A
Gas prices in the Charleston area have skyrocketed yet again, inching closer and closer to the $4-a-gallon mark that experts predicted early this year.
On Thursday afternoon, gas prices jumped 20 cents at several pumps across the state, reaching beyond the $3.60-a-gallon mark.
According to Internet fuel tracker www.gasbuddy.com, prices jumped to $3.69 a gallon at six stations in the area – the BP, Go- Mart and Kroger in Kanawha City; the Exxon at Campbells Creek and Spring Fork Road; the Texaco at Greenbrier Street and Oakridge Drive; and the Speedway at Elk River Road in Clendenin.
The lowest station price recorded in the Charleston area was $3.54, at the Citgo along MacCorkle Avenue in Spring Hill.
The average price in Charleston today was $3.66 – 21 cents higher than the national average, according to Gas Buddy.
Jan Vineyard, executive director of the West Virginia Oil Marketers and Grocers Association, said she isn’t surprised that motorists in the state are paying more for gas.
“If you compare our gas tax to Virginia’s, we’re 14 cents higher,” Vineyard said. “We pay 5.1 cents more on taxes than the national average. If you add our tax and the distribution logistics problem we have, that doesn’t surprise me.
“We’re a small state, and our dealers don’t do the volume that other states do. It’s harder for us to cover our fixed costs.”
Vineyard also attributed the increased prices to crude oil, which rose to a record-high $115 a barrel.
AAA’s Fuel Price Finder reported $3.64 as the average in Charleston. At this time last year, gas was $2.96 per gallon of regular.
Jack Campbell, owner of Colonial Exxon on Bridge Road, said wholesale gas prices have steadily increased over the past few days, resulting in stations jacking up costs Thursday.
Early Thursday, Colonial Exxon sold gas at $3.45 a gallon. By the end of the day, it was $3.65.
Campbell said he thinks motorists have become accustomed to the erratic, sharp price hikes.
“The big jump was yesterday,” Campbell said today. “We didn’t hear many complaints, but I’m sure we’ll hear some today. I think they’ve come to the fact that there’s not much they can do about it.”
Campbell predicts prices will reach $4 by the end of summer. He doesn’t like it any more than his customers do.
“It’s not good for anybody, except maybe the oil companies,” he said. “Our percentage of profits is much lower now than when it was $2 a gallon.”
Some areas of the state are seeing even higher prices.
According to Gas Buddy, a Chevron in Charles Town has the highest gas price at $3.82 a gallon. A Marathon station in Logan was charging $3.80.
But Vineyard said there might be some good news for those fearing $4 prices – it might not reach that point.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports the national average is expected to peak around $3.60 a gallon this summer, although it’s already reached that mark in West Virginia. The agency says there are variations across states due to varying gasoline quality specifications, distribution costs and taxes. It cites the West Coast, particularly California, as having the highest prices in the nation. Prices in those areas can often be 30 cents higher than the national average.
U.S. prices moved to $3.41 a gallon Thursday.
“They say it can hit $4 in some areas,” Vineyard said. “But we’re not one of those areas.”
Contact writer Jake Stump at jakestump@dailymail.com or 348- 4842.
Originally published by DAILY MAIL STAFF.
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