Document text
Photo by Jim Craven Attendant Bill Brotten fills a tank at Chevron Auto Service at 417 E. Barnett Road in Medford, where the price of regular unleaded had risen to $1.27 a gallon Tuesday. Gas prices pump up; higher still to come Attendants hear from irritated motorists By DAVID PRESZLER and JULIE SWENSEN After months at or near their lowest point in nearly a decade, gas prices around the Rogue Valley are back on the rise. That rise is likely to continue. OPEC voted Tuesday to cut crude oil production deeply and keep it low for a year. That step by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would cut the supply of oil on world markets by about 2.6 percent. In the last week or so alone, Oregon gas prices have jumped more than 10 cents a gallon -- and more than 20 at some stations, according to Mike Sherlock, executive director of the Oregon Gasoline Dealers Association. At the Chevron station on Barnett Road Tuesday, regular unleaded cost $1.27 a gallon -- eight cents higher than the day before. "I think it's awful," Medford motorist Pearl Pappas said at the station as her gas tank was filling up. "I couldn't believe it when I drove up here and looked at the sign." Another customer at the station, Tom Dew of Medford, decided to get only $10 worth of gas rather than fill his vehicle's 25-gallon tank. He was going to try to find cheaper gas elsewhere to finish filling his tank. The same trend could be seen at the Medford Astro station between Central and Riverside, where regular unleaded gas -- 99 cents a gallon two weeks ago -- was selling for $1.22 a gallon Tuesday. Gas station attendant Sabrina Zeulner has heard from irritated motorists. "What they don't realize is we have to pay the same prices they do," she said. "We just follow orders." Despite the rapid increase, the latest statewide surveys show prices are up only a cent a gallon from last year's levels. The spring break fuel survey by AAA Oregon/Idaho, done March 15, showed an average price of $1.13 per gallon. Last year's spring break average was $1.12 and last month's $1.10. Nationally, the Lundberg Survey of 10,000 gasoline stations nationwide found that prices were up about 8.5 cents per gallon at the pump over the past two weeks. In the West, the AAA report listed the average regular unleaded price at $1.10 per gallon, up 2.2 cents from February's levels but down 8.3 cents from March 1998 levels. Chevron gas attendant Frank Raymond said that last year at this time, gas cost $1.35-$1.38 a gallon. Several factors are driving the rising prices, including tighter crude oil supplies -- and thus high prices -- worldwide. But there are also distribution issues on the West Coast affecting local prices. "A much more pressing problem (than crude prices) is the refineries," says Mike Hawkins, president of Medford-based Hawk Oil Co., which supplies 15 gas stations in Jackson and Josephine counties. Hawkins says difficulties at three major refineries -- two in the Bay area and one in Los Angeles -- are cutting off supplies and raising wholesale prices. The prices from several major wholesalers rose 7 cents on Monday alone. "The rack prices have gone up faster than the street prices," he says, noting that most of that 7-cent jump has to be passed on to customers. "The whole West Coast is struggling." Fire heavily damaged one of the Bay area refineries last month and the other two have been down for maintenance. "That pulled the trigger for this whole thing," says Sherlock of the state association. "And this is the time of year that the market generally starts going up." Sherlock pointed out that wholesale prices are the driving force, not the retailers, who he says are lucky to net a cent a gallon. "People are always wanting to shoot the messenger," he says. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA