The average price of regular unleaded gasoline hit $3 a gallon in Colorado on Thursday, far sooner this year than last, according to AAA.
The average price a year ago May 3 was $2.84 a gallon, and it didn’t climb to $3 a gallon until August, well into the summer driving season.
Nationally, AAA reported the average price of regular unleaded gas was $2.99 on Thursday, up nearly 30 cents from a month ago. The average price for a gallon of unleaded regular was $2.96 in the Denver metro area.
A look at what happened and what’s to come:
Why the quick climb?
Gasoline prices have risen steadily since Jan. 2 when the average unleaded regular price in Colorado was $2.20 a gallon.
A February refinery fire in Texas and problems with refinery operations in other states have squeezed demand as the summer driving season approaches. Also, the cost of a barrel of crude oil is up around $63 after having dropped close to $50 a barrel in January.
“There have been a number of tests on the infrastructure. Our prices in Denver are generally lower than other markets,” said Stan Dempsey Jr., president of the Colorado Petroleum Association. “I don’t think we should be concerned about shortages. I don’t know if we’ll stay at $3 very long.”
Customer reaction
Motorists at stations around Denver said they were frustrated and expressed concern about prices moving as high as $3.50 or $4 a gallon.
“Prices are astronomically high. You have got to be cognizant of that,” said Mike Wilson of Aurora while filling up at the Water Way Gas and Wash in Cherry Creek. “You have to be smart about combining trips and errands so you don’t have to fill up every other day.”
While many motorists said they aren’t planning many daily driving changes, summer road trips are being reconsidered.
“Generally every weekend we take a trip to get away from the city,” said David Rupert of Golden at a Sinclair station on East Colfax Avenue. “We’ll think about the distance, and not drive so far.”
Full-service stations still pumping
At the Conoco station on South University Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue, regular gas cost $3.09 at the self-service pump, and $3.39 at the full-service pump. The full-service price for super-premium gas was $3.73.
But Mike Edgiar, manager of the East 8th Avenue and Downing Street Conoco, said he isn’t “lining his pockets” with the extra money he charges at the full-service pump – $3.29 a gallon for regular unleaded. “I still have to pay the people that work here. We’re not making a whole lot of money on gas right now.”
Edgiar also does car repairs, which he says allows the business to be profitable.
He said that “little old ladies that have never pumped and rich folks” are loyalists at his full-service pumps, although the station also has self-service pumps.
Refinery woes may dissipate soon
It’s unclear how high prices will go this summer.
Problems at refineries are expected to dissipate in the coming weeks, Dempsey said. A report from Energy Directions, an investment-analysis firm in Melrose, Mass., states that crude oil inventory has increased, as well as output from refineries.
“Our analysis indicates that 2007 gasoline price highs have been seen,” wrote Michael D. Smolin ski, president of Energy Directions and The National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
