Price slide?
For some, gas price decline means real savings, while
others must contend with more difficult challenges
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Thursday, October 9, 2008 10:59 AM PDT
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| The sign at Jacksons on Southwest Fourth Avenue tells the story Wednesday all fuel prices have dropped below $4 per gallon as world oil prices continue to decline. |
ONTARIO — Motorists may take solace in the decline in the price of fuel, but for some public agencies the potential savings may be elusive.
That’s because many public institutions — such as road districts — purchased fuel stocks when prices were high, and those same gas and diesel reserves are not used up.
In the local market area gasoline is selling from around $3.50 cents per gallon to $3.55 cents per gallon for regular gas and was as high as $4.35 per gallon, Ralph Poole, part owner of Poole Oil, said.
“So we’re down 80 to 85 cents per gallon,” he noted. “The high was in the middle of August.”
Poole said he expects the fuel prices will continue to go down during the next few months.
“That’s good for the public,” he said.
However, at the Malheur County Road Department, Roadmaster Richard Moulton said any savings to his department will be hard to detect.
The asphalt providers are still working off the oil they bought at higher prices earlier, Moulton said. Things should be a little better, he said, but not enough to change what he and his crew will do this year.
At least one local school district may experience a significant drop in fuel costs in the future.
Nyssa School Superintendent Don Grotting said the district is on a contract where it pays the supplier a specific amount above wholesale price each time the school tank is filled.
“We delay the savings,” he said. Grotting said he anticipates savings in the future. The Ontario School District, however, encountered savings with the price slide.
“It dropped by about $4,000,” Duke Clinton, Ontario School District director of opertations said of his last diesel bill.
“It had been running around $10,000,” he said.
Prices at one point were as high as $14,000 a month, he said. While there may not be any way to avoid high costs with projects this year or next, Tom Strandberg, Oregon Department of Transportation Region 5 public affairs officer, said there should be some savings this fall and winter as maintenance crews fill up their vehicles for snowplowing and other work.
Dave Carlson, AAA Idaho spokesperson, confirmed gasoline for Eastern Oregon comes off the Salt Lake City pipeline, which serves southern Idaho and reflects the prices seen in Idaho rather than western Oregon.
“The gas is supplied from terminals in Boise,” he said. He also noted, in a report released Tuesday, gas stations in northern Idaho, supplied by Spokane-based terminals, have lower prices than the rest of Idaho.
“The unusual thing we’re seeing is that there are tremendous disparities in prices depending where you live,” Carlson said. “Boise’s average $3.65 price today is 40 cents more than what motorists are paying in Coeur d’Alene ($3.25).”
Accordingly the statewide average in Oregon is $3.487, reflecting the lower prices in the Willamette Valley and Portland areas.
