Gas prices continue to drop

The month of July is becoming a treat for many in terms of fuel trends, as it brought a string of gas price rollbacks, which many hope will continue until the end of the year.

Late yesterday afternoon, Mobil Oil Marianas dropped its fuel prices by 15 cents, while Shell Marianas said they will soon follow suit.

As of yesterday, Mobil’s Extra fuel now costs $5.71 per gallon from $5.86. Supreme fuel was also reduced from $6.31 per gallon to $6.16 while diesel also went down from $6.98 per gallon to $6.68.

As of yesterday, fuel prices on Saipan have dropped a total of 85 cents since the start of July. Compared to the first week of July, when regular fuel was at $6.56 per gallon, the same amount of fuel now costs $5.71 after a series of price rollbacks.

The first rollback was seen on July 4, with local oil companies reducing prices by 15 cents from $6.56 to $6.41. Then, just 24 hours later, in the early hours of July 7, the CNMI saw the largest rollback by far when oil companies dropped their prices by 25 cents from $6.41 to $6.16. The third rollback of July was seen last July 14, with fuel prices dropping to $6.01. The fourth rollback was seen last Wednesday with fuel dropping another 15 cents from $6.01 to $5.86.

A local motorist said he hopes the trend will continue to the end of the year.

“All we can hope for now is for this to continue. I hope by the end of the year we see gas drop to $5 at least. That would be a huge relief for many, like myself,” he said.

A woman who was pumping her gas at Mobil yesterday said that, with the almost $1 reduction in fuel prices in the last month, she hopes the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. would “get with the program” and reduce its Fuel Adjustment Charge.

“CUC is so fast to raise its prices when gas goes up even 10 cents but when it reduces continuously, they take their time in reducing their FAC? They should get with the program and reduce their charges too because the people are suffering with these ridiculous fuel charges. On my bill, for example, I’m charged almost $200 for electricity, and that fine, but the FAC is about $500. That is ridiculous,” she said.

CUC has yet to announce whether it will be making adjustments to its FAC rate, now that fuel prices have gone down significantly in the past few weeks.