抖阴ap

As if record high gas prices weren’t enough, Coloradans are paying more for their fuel than motorists in many parts of the country.

Colorado’s average price Tuesday for self-service regular was an all-time high of $3.11, 7 cents higher than the national average of $3.04, according to AAA.

Residents of South Carolina had the privilege of buying the nation’s cheapest gasoline at $2.81.

Fuel is cheapest in the southeastern U.S. where crude oil and refineries are relatively plentiful, and along the East Coast, with easy access to imported gasoline.

Colorado’s inland location and dependence on out-of-state gas account for its higher prices, experts said.

Tight supplies in Colorado became even tighter this week as a Sinclair refinery near Rawlins, Wyo., lost about one-third of its production from a mechanical problem. Colorado is one of the chief markets for the refinery.

Supplies are already shorter than usual for Colorado because another out-of-state supplier, a Valero Energy refinery in the Texas panhandle, is producing only 56 percent of its normal output because of a fire in February.

That has led to sporadic shortages of various grades of gasoline at Valero’s Diamond Shamrock stations in Denver and Colorado Springs.

Relying on Okla., Texas

“At the end of the day, it’s all about supply and demand,” said Steve Douglas, a marketing expert for Suncor Energy USA, which operates Colorado’s only refinery in Commerce City. The facility supplies 30 to 35 percent of the state’s gasoline.

“When demand is high, we’re dependent on supply coming in from Texas, Oklahoma and other states,” Douglas said. “We have to compete for that gas, and that pushes prices up.”

He said Colorado’s demand for gas drops during winter months, which typically makes the state one of the nation’s lower-priced markets until warmer weather causes demand to rise.

Joseph Leto of Westminster-based Energy Analysts International said other factors that influence regional prices include costs for ethanol used as a gasoline blending agent, the presence of “big box” or grocery-operated filling stations that sell discounted gas, and varying local taxes.

State and federal taxes in Colorado add 40.4 cents per gallon to the cost of gasoline. That is lower than the national average of 45.8 cents in taxes, but the difference is not enough to offset the other factors that raise Colorado’s prices.

In a report Tuesday, analysts at the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that gasoline prices will peak this month, dip slightly in June and July, then swing higher in August. It said the national average price this summer will be $2.95 a gallon, up 11 cents from last summer.

Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.