Kaua’i, as dealers and drivers predicted, didn’t see the $3-a-gallon prices for regular gasoline that were forecast for the peak mainland summer driving season. But the island and state also haven’t seen the dramatic decrease in pump prices like mainland
Kaua’i, as dealers and drivers predicted, didn’t see the $3-a-gallon prices for regular gasoline that were forecast for the peak mainland summer driving season.
But the island and state also haven’t seen the dramatic decrease in pump prices like mainland drivers are enjoying.
As the chart indicates, gasoline prices on Kaua’i have seen roller-coaster fluctuations over the past 22 months.
But while mainland gasoline prices have plummeted, drops in Hawai’i pump prices haven’t mirrored the mainland drops.
Local dealers, distributors and others responsible for bringing oil to the state to be converted into gasoline, then getting it to the filling stations, chant a familiar mantra: The costs of getting fuels to the state, and between the islands, haven’t gone down; high labor costs mean only pennies of profit per gallon to dealers; this is the price you pay to live in paradise.
Gas prices nationwide have dropped dramatically, but prices at Hawai’i pumps remain the highest in the nation at nearly $2 per gallon, a survey found.
The weekly AAA (American Automobile Association) survey found the nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded is $1.24. Hawai’i motorists, meanwhile, dish out an average of $1.91 per gallon.
On Kaua’i, the prices are even higher, even when dealers offer their weekly three-, four- or five-cent-a-gallon discounts on designated days.
Prices are low nationally because “the supply of fuel is plentiful right now, and it’s that way all over the country,” said Ruben Baca, executive director of the New Mexico Petroleum Marketers Association.
Oil prices have fallen 30 percent in the past year, to a two-year low.
However, gas prices in the islands have dropped only about four cents in that period.
“Primarily, gas prices are set by local competition,” said Nathan Hokama, a spokesman for Tesoro Hawai’i, which owns and operates dozens of gas stations in the state, and one of the state’s two oil refineries, a 95,000-barrel-a-day facility at Campbell Industrial Park on O’ahu.
“The market here is different from the mainland, and the demand is different from mainland cities,” said Hokama.
Tim Hamilton, an Olympia, Wash., gasoline industry consultant for independent dealers, said oil companies in Hawai’i are reaping huge profits by not passing on the cheaper oil costs to consumers.
“I have never seen a marketplace act like Hawai’i’s without some understanding between the oil companies, either through observation (of one another’s pricing) or some other means,” Hamilton said.
Staff writer Paul C. Curtis contributed to this report.
