Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Tourists and locals ‘rolling with’ record gasoline prices

Like the numbers on the gasoline pump that flicker past as you squeeze the handle, gasoline prices just keep going up.

When will that stop? Not anytime soon, experts are saying.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Nevada has increased by 45 cents since January, bringing the state average to a record high of $2.12, the state AAA reported on Wednesday.

Drivers in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas are paying $2.14 per gallon on average -- also a record -- while Henderson averages $2.12, according to AAA. Nevada's cheapest gasoline is in Elko and costs an average $1.86.

Nationally, prices are setting another record, at $1.78 for an average gallon of regular unleaded.

And that "probably won't be the last record high price set this summer," predicted Sean Comey, the Nevada spokesman for AAA, formerly the American Automobile Association.

Americans tend to drive more during the summer, creating high demand for gas. At the same time, it is in short supply for a variety of reasons both global and local -- factors that aren't likely to change anytime soon, Comey said.

Peter Krueger, executive director of the Nevada Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said he'd like to predict prices would tail off around Labor Day, but "I don't know about that."

"There are no quick fixes," Krueger said by telephone from California. Prices will stop rising, he said, "when a steady, dependable supply of gasoline comes on the market."

From the unpredictable behavior of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, to problems with refineries in the area and a recent fire at a refinery in New Mexico, events are making the commodity speculators whose bids determine oil prices jittery, Krueger said.

"Much of our gas prices is driven by the uncertainty of the marketplace," Krueger said. "If a big supply of finished gasoline comes on the market, the price would tumble."

But locals and tourists alike aren't holding their breath, nor are they walking to work.

"I'm just rolling with it," said Las Vegan Jeremy Kelly, 33, a valet supervisor. He was filling his car with $2.13 regular unleaded at a Chevron station at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sunset Road on Wednesday.

Asked whether he was clipping coupons or driving less to make up for the high cost of gas, Kelly said, "Nah, it hasn't hit that point yet. Maybe when it gets to 3 or 4 dollars I'll start thinking about it."

Adam Gilbert, 38, who runs a moving company in Las Vegas, was filling a 24-foot truck at the same station. He said his employees were suffering because of the price hike.

"After expenses, I can't hardly pay them," he said. "Right now they're making 30 percent of their income from tips."

Gilbert said he didn't think it was fair that "construction workers, movers and guys who do long-haul trucking" are feeling the brunt of price increases.

But tourists appeared undeterred. To Marco Antonio Ramos of Tijuana, Mexico, in Las Vegas for a weeklong family vacation, it was all relative: "Nearer to the border, gas is more expensive than here," he said. "We get a better price when we come here."

Besides, Ramos said, "It's cheaper to drive here than to fly."

Several Californians echoed that sentiment. According to AAA, gasoline in Los Angeles averages $2.24 a gallon.

"Even 50 cents a gallon adds up to less than a $20 increase in someone's road trip from Southern California," said Rob Powers, vice president of public relations for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

"From our perspective, we've never seen a correlation between an increase in gas prices, even at the level they're at now, and a drop in travel traffic," Powers said.

Through February, the volume of visitors to Las Vegas in 2004 was up 5.2 percent compared with the same period last year, and gaming revenue was up 18 percent, Powers said, although he noted that early 2003 was depressed by the run-up to the war in Iraq.

"Las Vegas has been and continues to be one of the top destinations for people planning driving vacations," AAA's Comey agreed.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., also met last week with the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating allegations of market manipulation.

In the long run, prices may just keep climbing, as they have gradually since the early 1990s, economists say.

A report released Wednesday by the Energy Department predicted that crude oil would cost $51 a barrel by 2025 -- nearly 40 percent more than the current price, $36.70.

The report said the industrialization of the developing world, especially Asia, would create rising demand for energy worldwide.

The economic effects of gas prices are "very broad-reaching," Comey noted.

"Unless (a product) is some kind of intellectual property that can be sent over the Internet, everything has to get shipped," from a pair of jeans to a pound of vegetables, Comey said. And most methods of shipping, he said, require fuel.

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