Mainland pump prices plunging, but no such movement on Kaua’i, yet

While gasoline pump prices are plummeting on the Mainland, on Kaua’i they have remained stable for nearly the last two months.

Last week, Mainland pump prices dropped about a nickel a gallon, according to information from the federal Energy Information Agency Web site.

Drops in crude-oil prices and rises in gasoline inventories are cited by the EIA for drops in Mainland pump prices, with the EIA Web site predicting summertime pump prices to be even lower than originally estimated.

Prices on the West Coast were about 40 cents higher than in some Gulf States. Last week drivers were paying over $1.95 per gallon in San Francisco, and about $1.90 a gallon in Los Angeles.

Why when Mainland pump prices are tumbling have Kaua’i drivers not seen a similar decrease in gas prices?

Sheilah Rego, owner and operator of Shell stations in Kalaheo, Lihu’e and Hanama’ulu, asked her supplier the same question just yesterday, she said.

The conventional wisdom is that Hawai’i and Kaua’i are still being supplied with gasoline purchased when crude-oil prices were higher, meaning before the Iraqi war began, said Rego.

Pump prices bear her out, as costs after shooting skyward on Kaua’i have been stable since the war began seven weeks ago.

During the week of March 6, the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was between $2.07 and $2.28 on Kaua’i. By the week of March 20, regular prices ranged from $2.16 to $2.34. This week and last week, regular prices are from $2.17 to $2.34, despite a several-dollar drop in the price of a barrel of crude oil.

Rego thinks Kaua’i pump prices will eventually come down, by the end of this month or in early June. “I haven’t seen the price decrease this early in the month,” she said yesterday.

Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).