The annual pre-summer rise in gasoline prices got an earlier-than-usual start Thursday, with Denver-area prices rising more than a dime a gallon in some places.
Gas prices in Colorado averaged $2.49 per gallon of regular unleaded, according to the most recent survey from AAA Colorado. That data, which did not include Thursday’s price increases, showed that prices have increased 23 cents since the beginning of the month.
The spike follows a run-up in wholesale prices that experts say could portend another summer of high gas costs.
“I think we’re going to see price increases clear up through August or into September,” said Roy Turner, executive vice president of the Colorado/Wyoming Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association.
Members of the group have been hit with price increases totaling 11 cents a gallon over the past two days, he said.
The latest spike follows smaller increases over the past few weeks.
Oil prices reached a two- month high of more than $67 a barrel Thursday amid supply disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico and Nigeria, a U.N. standoff with Iran over its nuclear program and growing U.S. demand.
The market also was rattled late Wednesday by an announcement from Venezuela’s oil minister that Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, was no longer welcome in his country.
It was the latest sign of tighter state control of energy around the globe.
“All of these things are adding up,” said Antoine Halff, director of global energy at Fimat USA in New York.
Gasoline supplies have been affected by refinery maintenance and the seasonal shift from winter grades of gasoline to summer grades.
Additionally, many oil companies are beginning to replace the additive MTBE – methyl tertiary-butyl ether – with ethanol, leading to concerns that ethanol production may not keep pace with demand.
Such supply pressures are only now making themselves apparent at the pump because many station owners have tried to hold the line on pricing.
“It’s kind of like pulling a rubber band,” said Bryant Gimlin, an energy risk manager for Fort Lupton-based Gray Oil Co. “Retailers keep eating those increases, but they keep going up and that rubber band eventually snaps.”
Albert Alavi, who owns a Conoco station on Speer Boulevard near downtown Denver, said he had resisted raising his prices. On Thursday, he raised them by a dime, to $2.63 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
Drivers filling up at his station noticed the change but appeared to take it in stride.
“I’m OK, but I wonder how people who are supporting families and children do it,” said Miriam Turri, a teacher who tries to walk most places and fills her gas tank about twice a month.
There may not be any relief in sight.
Although Turner stopped short of saying prices could climb to last year’s post-Katrina $3 mark, he expects them to continue rising.
“The outlook is not looking good for the peak driving months,” he said. “I think we’re probably going to see prices in the area of $2.75 a gallon.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
