Local gas prices hit 8-month low

  • Published
  • By Dylan Laurie
  • 16th SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  The price of gasoline fell eight cents from Sept. 18--22 to the lowest it has been since the end of March.

The national average for self-serve regular was about $2.42 Sept. 22, down from about $2.65 two weeks earlier, according to the Lund-berg Survey of 7,000 gas stations across the country.

Here the lower prices even have gas station employees in a good mood.

"We don't have anything to do with it, we're just happy that it's happening," said Odette Ingham, Hurlburt Field shoppette manager.

Ingham reassures shoppette customers that they comparatively price their gasoline with the cheapest stations in the area.

"We do a survey every single night," said Ingham. "And we match between six different gas stations the lowest price for each grade. A lot of people still complain that they can get it cheaper in Gulf Breeze, but the reason for that is they (those gas stations) pay lower taxes than we do."

Pump prices are 28.9 cents lower than a year ago, dropping by more than 50 cents a gallon since the start of August amid falling oil prices, according to the Federal Energy Information Administration.

Average retail gasoline prices peaked at $3.07 a gallon last September, reflecting the extreme tightness in the market following Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out refineries in the Gulf region as well as pipelines that deliver fuel to the East Coast and Midwest.

Even when the price of gas rose, Ingham says, customers were still willing to shell out the money it took to fill their tanks.

"With gas, you're going to have to have it," Ingham said. "We don't like to raise the prices. I don't like to pay more; but when you have to have it, you've got to have it."

Airman 1st Class Nicholas Davis, 16th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, was forced to get a new vehicle that got better gas mileage due to the elevated expense of driving.

"I had a full size Dodge truck, but I had to get something smaller because of the price of gas," Airman Davis said.

Gasoline prices were most expensive Sept. 11--15 on the West Coast, averaging $2.806 per gallon, and cheapest in the Gulf Coast region, averaging $2.386 per gallon.