Hawai'i gas prices stay high despite decreases nationally
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i gasoline prices reached historic highs in the past two weeks even as gas prices nationwide fell more than 10 cents, the largest price slide in two years.
The average price for a gallon of self-serve gas nationwide Friday, including all grades and taxes, was about $1.65, said the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations released Sunday. That was a decrease of 10.23 cents per gallon from Sept. 12, the date of the previous survey.
The end of the summer driving season eased pressure on prices, while gasoline imports added to overall supply, said analyst Trilby Lundberg. The drop largely was driven by an increase in supplies after a broken pipeline in Arizona and the East Coast power outage created shortages during August, Lundberg said.
However, in Hawai'i the average price of regular was $2.13 a gallon yesterday, which was just below a high of $2.132 set Friday, according to AAA travel club. The state's prices have remained near a peak for much of the year, despite declines on the Mainland after the Iraq war and the Labor Day weekend.
"The big question we have also is why," said Jeffrey Spring, a spokesman for AAA travel club. "What has changed in Hawai'i's market to make that happen?"
The common explanation for Hawai'i's high prices is a concentration of the gasoline market among five oil companies — ChevronTexaco, Tesoro, Aloha Petroleum, Shell and Union 76 — which don't aggressively compete for market share by cutting prices.
Nationwide, the drop in prices was the largest since the period after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The weighted average retail gasoline price fell from about $1.54 to nearly $1.43 during the two weeks before Oct. 5, 2001, according to the Lundberg Survey.
Gas prices edged up last month and peaked Sept. 12 at about $1.75, she said.
Lundberg said a decision last week by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production by 900,000 barrels as of Nov. 1 would not cause a surge in gas prices. Instead, prices would continue to fall, though not as steeply, because of entering the lower consumption season and increased competition among gasoline retailers, she said.
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
