Gasoline price hike bucks post-holiday weekend trend

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 11 a.m.

The pocketbooks of motorists usually find some relief in September, as gasoline prices routinely decline after Labor Day weekend, the end of summer traveling, AAA Nevada officials said.

But instead of paying a few cents less at the pump, drivers in Las Vegas are paying up to six cents more.

The monthly average gasoline price in Las Vegas rose from $1.96 in August to $2.02 for regular in September, AAA Nevada spokesman Michael Geeser said Thursday. Nevada saw a five-cent increase statewide to $2.05, while nationwide prices have gone down about four cents to $1.84.

An unscientific survey of gasoline stations on Thursday showed a range in price from as low as $1.95 for regular unleaded at an AM/PM Mini Mart to $2.05 at a Green Valley Grocery station within three miles of the AM/PM in Henderson. Most stations posted a price of $1.99 per gallon.

Geeser said he was flabbergasted, wondering why Nevadans were paying more this month compared with last -- especially since California gasoline prices remained fairly stagnant in the past month. Gasoline prices usually fall after the Labor Day holiday because the summer traveling season ends and demand falls, Geeser said.

"It just didn't hold true this year," Geeser said. "When the Labor Day holiday came and went our prices went up a few cents."

A few cents more per gallon can add up to a lot of money for locals who have to commute across the valley, such as "chauffeur mom" Carine Kaffi, 42.

Kaffi, who was filling up her compact car with $1.99 unleaded at the 24 Seven Xpress on Stephanie Road and American Pacific Avenue, said she puts $90 a week or more into her tank as she drives her family all over town. She said she makes at least four trips a week from the far west side of Las Vegas to the far east side of Henderson.

"It's frustrating for everybody," Kaffi said.

Filling up one of his business trucks for Solar Industries at the same station, Brad Headrick, 42, expressed similar frustrations. As an office manager for his company, Headrick said the mileage bills coming into his office are outrageous.

"I think the gas companies are ripping off the public," Headrick said.

Like Geeser, he questioned why Nevadans were paying so much more.

"I know the taxes are higher in Nevada," Headrick said, "But you can go over to Arizona and it's 20 cents cheaper, and in Utah it's the same thing."

A lot of different factors go into the price of gasoline, oil industry analysts said, including seasonal variations, supply and demand, the cost of crude oil, refinery processing costs, marketing and distribution costs, and the retail station costs and taxes.

"There is a seasonal variation but its pretty small compared to all the other things that affect gasoline prices," said Rob Planting, an analyst with the Washington, D.C., based American Petroleum Institute, a trade association representing the oil and gas industry.

Currently the biggest factor affecting gasoline prices is the high price of crude oil, Planting said.

The cost of crude oil hit a record high in August, nearly $50 a barrel, Planting said. The cost has come down, averaging about $43 Thursday, but still comes in at a cost about 50 percent higher than the price of crude oil last September, when it was $28 a barrel.

The increased cost will affect what consumers pay, Planting said.

Geeser said he hoped that as the price of crude oil continued to fall, the savings would be passed on to Nevadans. At the least, he said, he hoped prices would stay stable here as they have in California and Utah. Only Phoenix showed the same kind of gasoline increases as Nevada from August to September.

"Motorists are eager for relief after months of volatility throughout the summer," Geeser said.