Gasoline prices soar in valley, nationwide

Eric Leake

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

The Washington family might have gone out to eat Monday night if not for rising gasoline prices.

"Look at how big my kids are. I need to feed them," said Saundra Washington as she fueled at the Terrible's gas station on Windmill Parkway and Pecos Road. "Now I have to go home and cook and I'm tired."

Washington's two teenagers waited in the car.

"We have graduation and prom. It's not fair," she added, calling rising gasoline prices ridiculous.

According to AAA Nevada, the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline Monday was $2.18 statewide and $2.17 in Las Vegas, up 17 cents a gallon from one month earlier.

Nationwide, the price of gasoline jumped a hefty 7.1 cents a gallon the past week to an average $1.999 for regular grade, the highest in four months, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Monday.

That's the biggest one-week leap since a 7.6-cent increase in May during the run-up to a nominal record average $2.064 and was significantly more than the 4-cent rise the EIA expected.

Last week's increase is the seventh largest since EIA began weekly reports in 1990. The biggest one-week increase in the nationwide average for regular gasoline is 12 cents in late-August 2003.

Michael Geeser, a spokesman for AAA Nevada, said the latest price hike is "pretty drastic" and is caused by a combination of many factors.

Refineries are losing inventory as they switch from winter to summer fuel blends, Geeser said. There is also uncertainty in the global oil markets, uncertainty in the Middle East, and an unprecedented demand for oil worldwide, especially in China, he said.

"It's kind of like a lot of bad things happening at once," Geeser said. "When crude oil prices go through the roof so do retail gas prices."

The record average gasoline price in Las Vegas was set at $2.29 per gallon on Oct. 20, 2004, Geeser said. He did not expect gasoline prices to reach that level again soon but said they may continue to rise.

"The bad news for consumers is that the trend most likely will continue through 2006," Geeser said, as refineries retool to meet new environmental standards.

The national average Monday was $1.94 per gallon. Geeser said gas in Nevada tends to be at least $0.20 higher than the national average because it's piped here from California where gas is also expensive.

So far, Geeser said, the hikes don't seem to be affecting Nevadans except in the pocketbook.

"I don't know what the magic number is. I would have to think that there is a number out there that would cause people to get out of their cars, but I don't think we've seen it yet," he said.

Steve Brookins, back at the Terrible's station, said his magic number is somewhere above $2.60. Then he might start considering leaving his Infiniti behind.

Brookins, a housing consultant, said he first noticed higher prices Monday. "It's significant, a significant jump," he said. "And I think it's going to increase as we approach the summer months."

Brookins said those within the oil business like to pass around blame for rising prices at the pumps, "and at the end of the day we, as consumers, have to pay for it.

"Who I really feel sorry for are those families that bought an SUV for the convenience of a growing family," Brookins said. "I don't know how they survive, filling that up twice a week."

Steve Dietrich bought an SUV, not for a growing family but to tow his boat. He said he has noticed a trend in gas prices. They rise, people complain, and prices drop just a little until they rise again, he explained.

"It's really simple," Dietrich said. "It seems like they constantly push prices up to see what the market can bear."

Dietrich, who works at the Bellagio, said he would buy a hydrogen car if he could but otherwise has little choice but to pay whatever the cost for gas.

"What can people do? People have to go to work," he said.

Tim McCoy noted that higher gasoline prices are seen not only at the pump but in the transportation costs and ultimately in the price of goods.

"Oil prices change the economy," McCoy said. "You have to charge more."