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Despite plunge in oil prices, gas prices in CNMI still high
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Posted on Oct 29 2008
Despite crude oil trading at its lowest price in more than a year, gas prices on Saipan remain at more than $4 a gallon for regular unleaded.
Light sweet crude oil was trading at $62.23 on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, the lowest closing price since May 15, 2007. Shell and Mobil on island are currently selling self-serve regular unleaded at $4.02 a gallon—58 cents more than they were selling it in June 2007, when crude oil was trading at a similar price.
In October 2007, when crude oil was trading at approximately $88, Shell and Mobil stations on island were selling self-service regular unleaded for $3.61 a gallon.
Crude oil was trading at an all time high of $147.27 per barrel in July. At that time, Shell and Mobil stations on island were selling regular unleaded for $5.05 per gallon.
Jeff Boyer, retail area manager for Shell, said oil prices have dropped faster than Shell has been able to recover their costs.
“There’s a bit of a balancing act,” he said, adding that prices will come down eventually, although he said he could not give a timetable.
“We monitor the market from time to time,” he said. “If the market dictates, we move. It may be at any given time, but I can’t give any specific time.”
An official from Mobil did not respond to questions by press time yesterday.
Meanwhile, a report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Monday shows the average price for regular unleaded in the U.S. mainland is $2.656 per gallon—a decrease of 21 cents from the same time last year.
The Gulf Coast has the cheapest average at $2.46 per gallon while the West Coast is the most expensive at $3.05 per gallon for regular unleaded.
Boyer said the CNMI couldn’t be compared to the U.S. mainland because the Commonwealth falls within the Asia-Pacific market.
“So unfortunately, what you see on the U.S. does not have any affect on what goes in our side of the world,” he said.
