Not so pumped

Monday, Jan. 2, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

As a stream of vehicles crept north on Las Vegas Boulevard during the New Year's travel crush, drivers filling up at area gasoline stations found prices that have fallen steadily since September.

But many said they still found them too high. Prices averaged 27 cents a gallon higher this New Year's weekend than last.

Knarika Aryvazyn and her daughter live in Los Angeles and try to visit family in Las Vegas often. But high prices forced them to cut the number of trips in half during 2005, and despite the falling prices, they don't plan to add more trips next year.

Angel Clemons lives in the south Las Vegas Valley, and her father lives in North Las Vegas. "I don't drive across town just to see my father anymore," Clemons said. For her, that's about a 30-mile trip one way.

"I try not to drive because of the gas prices," Clemons said.

Southern Californians who regularly visit Las Vegas are inclined to see a price of $3 a gallon as a tipping point, according to a survey by MRC Group, a Las Vegas market research company. The survey of more than 400 Southern Californians found that about half will cut back their trips if prices reach that level.

During the peak average gasoline price of $2.98 a gallon in Las Vegas on Sept. 9, between 10 percent and 15 percent of Californians did stay home, said Jim Medick, chief executive of MRC.

"The study concluded that if gas prices continued to increase, we could have lost up to 50 percent of visitors coming by car," Medick said.

Keith Schwer, director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, said that gas prices should not impact travelers from Southern California, at least not this winter.

"If they're willing to pay $600 a night for a hotel room, they're not going to worry about a tank of gas," Schwer said.

Jet fuel prices, even if they rise in 2006, should not affect Las Vegas, Schwer said, because business travel remains strong.

Schwer said weather is the wild card for the rest of the winter -- whether prices for natural gas and other home heating costs jump.

Las Vegas gasoline prices should remain stable for a couple of weeks, said Michael Geeser, spokesman for AAA Nevada.

"In a lot of ways, we begin 2006 with the same issues we had in 2005," Geeser said, noting supply, demand and economies worldwide will affect gasoline prices in Las Vegas.

The average price nationwide is $2.18 a gallon, according to AAA.

Geezer said the three main reasons prices are falling are that refineries along the Gulf Coast damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita came back on line faster than expected; a temporary relaxation of clean air rules allowed more gas to flow into the country; and the United States began easing bans on oil imports from certain countries.

However, in mid-to-late January gasoline prices are expected to creep up once again. That's because refineries are beginning to switch to warm weather fuel to prepare for the summer driving season, Geeser said.

Mary Manning can be reached at 259-4065 or at manning@lasvegassun.com.