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Pain at the pump
Local prices soar as oil crosses $120/barrel mark
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
We were warned, but it still came as a shock. Last Thursday, the island's pump price for regular
 | | ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Jesse LeBlanc fills it up at Airport Gas Tuesday morning. Full-service premium was just shy of $4.82. |
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gas jumped to an all-time high of $4.59 a gallon and premium skyrocketed to $4.76 at Airport Gas, with Nantucket's other three stations not much cheaper.
The lowest prices are at the independent On-Island Gas where, until Friday morning, regular went for $3.94 but then rose to $4.53 with premium selling for $4.67 a gallon.
Predictions for future pump costs are grim as the going rate per barrel of crude oil keeps rising and as of Tuesday morning was recorded at over $120.
Harbor Fuel president John Stackpole, whose company supplies Airport Gas, Mid- Island Gas and Hatch's, said his business had not made a bulk purchase for six weeks, so the new prices reflect market changes over that span all at once.
"The next time we get it, it will be four weeks of change, either up or down," he said, declining to speculate on upcoming costs because of the oil industry's volatility. "If anyone had asked me months ago I never would have known it would be this high."
A look at comparison prices on the Gas Buddy Web site shows Nantucket's current prices as higher than Hawaii's and most locations in California, though in Montecito some stations are charging $4.69 for regular and $4.99 for super grade.
Several factors play into the picture on Nantucket and elsewhere, particularly a significant reduction in Nigerian oil supplies due to rebel fighting which has resulted in some pipelines being blown up. Stackpole noted that Exxon alone has lost nearly 200,000 barrels of oil daily because of the conflict.
"It's just a mess over there," said Stackpole, "but the main reason [for the price hikes] is the buyers and traders who buy a contract and sell it but take no delivery of oil."
Stackpole noted that the Farm Bill (Home Rule 2419 seeking passage of the "Commodity Futures Trading Commission Reauthorization Act of 2008") is before Congress to implement scrutiny over oil futures trading.
"There is no regulation now. It's one of the few commodities not regulated by the New York Stock Exchange," said Stackpole, explaining that on Monday the per barrel price alternated between a low of $116 to the day's high of $119.80. "It's fluctuating every day by way of the mercantile exchange."
In comparison with Nantucket, Charlie Meyer, owner of Island Petroleum Service in Friday Harbor, Wash., one of the state's San Juan Islands, was charging $4.13 for regular and $4.34 for premium on Monday.
"There is no reason for it to get any better," he said.
On Block Island, R.I., M & C Associates was pumping regular at $4.15 and premium at $4.35 on Tuesday, but station manager Cliff McGinnes said he was getting a new gas shipment last night and expected the prices to go up.
At Jim's gas station in Oak Bluffs on the Vineyard, regular was selling for $4.18 and high test at $4.38 on Monday.
Although the situation is somewhat less marked on Nantucket, station prices on the mainland and even Martha's Vineyard, can vary by several cents depending on location. At a Mobil station in Edgartown on the Vineyard, regular was selling for $4.29 a gallon on Tuesday, but the station's spokesperson made note of a few points.
"The economy is out of control. I don't know who's making money, but it's the same with every business on the Vineyard and Nantucket," the spokesperson, who declined to be named, said.
As of Monday evening, drivers in Santa Barbara, Calif. were shelling out up to $4.43 per gallon of regular compared to a high in Kahului, Hawaii of $4.21 on Monday morning. The average gallon of regular in Hawaii stood at $4.06 yesterday.
"Wow," said Melody Westmoreland, an incredulous station employee in a Carmel, Calif. Chevron station when she heard the range of Nantucket's pump prices. Though she said she should be asking for more, she is maintaining her charge for regular at $4.07 and premium at $4.27 as long as possible.
"Everybody's trying to keep prices down here because we can't believe this is happening," she said.
While Key West, Fla. has never been considered a place to find bargains, on Monday Dion's Quik Mart was still selling regular gas at under $4 for $3.88 per
gallon, with high test going for $4.08. I
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