Local prices are a pain in the gas
(Graph courtesy AAA IDAHO) Idaho’s gas prices tend to have a delayed reaction to national prices whether they’re going up or down, according to Idaho AAA.
SANDPOINT — Gas prices here experienced a 23-cent drop over the past week, according to AAA Idaho.
No fooling.
Matthew Conde, director of AAA Idaho’s Public & Government Affairs, said gas prices in Sandpoint were at $2.72 per gallon last week and that fell to $2.49.
“That is extremely unusual. I have seen gas prices drop 10-15 cents over the course of a week on the state level, but for a specific city to have that big of a swing is really difficult to explain offhand,” Conde said from Boise on Tuesday.
Possible explanations for the tumbling price could be the drop in crude oil prices, causing national and state prices to follow suit, according to Conde. The per-barrel price of crude reached as high as $76 in October, but had fallen to $50 as of the close of markets on Monday.
“Half the price of gas is crude oil. When you start dropping a third of the value of the oil that definitely has helped us out,” Conde said.
Motorists in Bonner County, meanwhile, are reporting gas pains when they roll up to Sandpoint filling stations, where prices surpass those of stations in Priest River and Coeur d’Alene by as much as 10 or 20 cents per gallon depending on the day.
But it’s not entirely clear to AAA Idaho why Sandpoint’s gasoline prices are surpassing those of other stations in Bonner and Kootenai counties.
Nearly a dozen variables factor into local gas prices, Conde said. They include domestic pipeline availability and access, refinery utilization, the ebb and flow of overseas oil production, Canadian imports and retailers’ wishes.
“You can’t point it too strongly one way or the other, but obviously retailers can command what the market will bear. There could certainly be some opportunism that was happening there, but how much is anybody’s guess,” said Conde.
The northern Panhandle benefits from pipelines extending from refineries in Billings and Laurel, Mont. Gas prices in southern Idaho tends to run a little higher because much of the crude is coming from Wyoming and gets refined in Salt Lake City before making its way to Boise.
“It has a much longer, circuitous, route to get to us,” Conde said.
Idaho was ranked 15th in the nation for highest average gas prices on Tuesday.
“That’s a positive because normally we fall in the 7-9 range. However, the positions 11-14 above us are all about a penny from each other,” said Conde.
OPEC production cuts went into place at the turn of the year, although domestic petroleum supplies are solid because of added refinery utilization in the Rockies and the addition of 120 more domestic oil rigs.
“That is going to continue to put downward pressure on prices until something happens — either these supply cuts by OPEC really take effect or you start to see something where demand starts going through the roof,” Conde said.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.