Nevada gas prices slide downward

Tom Gardner

Wednesday, June 21, 2000 | 8:16 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Nevada bucked the national trend as gasoline prices declined the past month despite the beginning of the summer time driving blitz.

Analysts predict the West Coast might be spared significant increases this summer even as prices have spiked across the country.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas statewide was $1.65 in June, down a nickel from May, the American Automobile Association reported Tuesday.

For nostalgia buffs, the price a year earlier was $1.35.

Nationally, prices soared 12 cents a gallon over the month, from $1.51 in May to $1.63 in June. The June 1999 price was $1.14.

The AAA gas survey measured prices on June 20 compared with May 16.

The AAA survey found that Carson City had the cheapest gas with an average of $1.61 a gallon, a drop of 2 cents, and Las Vegas had the biggest price decrease of 9 cents a gallon to $1.63. Reno was most expensive at $1.71 with the smallest decline - a penny a gallon.

In Carson City, where the Eagle Gas and Gas and Save stations are charging $1.53 a gallon, owner Mohammad Ahmad said he was holding his own even though the wholesale price was up.

"Last Friday we thought they might go down and they went up. Last night we thought maybe they would go down and there was no change. We hope for the price to go down but it's an unstable market," he said.

But Nevadans can only be glad they live in the West when they fill up at the pump.

"While major cities in the upper Midwest have seen prices averaging well over $2 a gallon, West Coast prices have remained flat or down in the past," said AAA Nevada spokesman Paul Moreno.

He cautioned that summer demand and higher oil prices are starting to push up retail prices in some West Coast cities.

"There's been a slight upward trend in West Coast wholesale (gasoline) prices," said Alan Kovski, energy analyst with the Kiplinger Washington Letter. "I would expect gasoline prices to go up a bit. Not a whole lot, but some."

Since June 1, several U.S. cities have been required to use a new blend of cleaner-burning fuel. Production and distribution problems are being blamed for tight supplies and skyrocketing retail prices in Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and several other cities primarily in the Upper Midwest.

That turmoil is not affecting the West Coast gas and oil markets because they are isolated from those east of the Rocky Mountains.

In Northern California, prices were down 2 cents in five weeks, with the regional average at $1.71. In Utah, the average price is $1.52, up 3 cents in the same period, according to AAA.