Gas price climb to continue

The price of gasoline is skyrocketing across the state and the nation, and experts say the pressure on businesses and consumers will only increase during the summer.

Sarah Davis, spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas, said the average cost of gas in North Carolina is $2.06 per gallon, but some local gas stations are setting prices higher than that.

Some area stations reported no adverse consequences from the price hike, but Vipul Raval, manager of the Eagle Food Mart Texaco on Highway 15-501, said his business is hurting.

“Gas is taking away more of the money (customers) want to spend,” he said.

Raval said the leftover money customers usually spend inside the food mart now goes into their tank.

Davis said the high cost of gasoline is attributable, in part, to market speculation. “If there is talk of the price going up, then it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the price goes up.”

In addition, the need to switch to more environmentally friendly summer formulas increases the cost of gasoline refining.

John Tobin, executive director of the Energy Literacy Project Inc., said international competition is another driving force in the cost of crude oil, which is at $57 per barrel.

“We don’t have ‘emerging’ economies like China and India — they have already emerged,” he said.

The rising status of these countries as economic powers drives their demand for the same oil coveted by the United States, he said.

The battle for access to oil reserves is raising the price of gasoline almost daily.

Raval said he has to raise the price of gas regularly. “Every time we get a gas load, prices have to change,” he said.

Along with the price hike come those customers who prefer their gasoline free. “Every time prices go up, people try to get away with gas,” Raval said, adding that there are one or two drive-offs every week.

Tobin said the price of gas will probably continue to rise, perhaps even approaching the $3 range.

But, according to a press release from AAA Carolinas, Saudi Arabia might bring relief.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has decided to increase its crude oil production quota by 500,000 barrels per day in April, and Saudi Arabia might further increase supplies if prices don’t slack off.

But Tobin said refineries already are operating at full capacity and would not be able to meet the raised quota with an actual increase in production.

Davis said a quota hike would help calm speculative fears and bring prices down, even if actual refining capacity isn’t increased.

But regardless of whether OPEC comes to the rescue, Tobin said, it doesn’t look like gasoline prices will be going down anytime soon.

“This summer, starting now and through the end of the driving season, is going to be a tight season.”

Contact the State & National editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.