Gasoline prices climb to record in metro area

By Adam Wilmoth
The Oklahoman

Soaring crude oil prices continued to force gasoline prices higher Tuesday as Oklahoma City consumers paid a new record high for fuel.

Soaring prices

Gasoline prices have soared nationwide in recent weeks largely because of soaring oil prices, which have been driven up largely because of strong demand, tight worldwide supplies, geopolitical uncertainties and the relatively low value of the dollar.

The price of light crude for March delivery rose 70 cents to $54.59 a barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is about 45 percent more expensive than a year ago.

The national average price for a gallon of unleaded hit nearly $1.98 on Monday, up about 9 cents in the past two weeks. In Oklahoma, the average price was $1.91, up 12 cents in the same time period.

The Oklahoma City average price was more than $1.91, up 14 cents over the past two weeks. Tulsans paid an average of about $1.90 Monday, up nearly 12 cents.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Oklahoma City climbed to more than $1.91 Tuesday, breaking the previous record set in May. The statewide average is less than a penny below the record of about $1.92.

High prices affect most Oklahoma consumers, but even small changes translate into steep additional costs for Sharon Moore and other Oklahomans who travel long distances to get to work each day.

The media specialist at Edmond’s Russell Dougherty Elementary School drives 56 miles each way between her home in Wayne and her school in Edmond. With two or three refuels each week, the more than 8 cent per gallon increase in the average price of gasoline in Oklahoma is quickly adding up, she said.

“Lately I’ve been more conscious of traveling and not making unnecessary trips because of gas prices,” Moore said. “I plan my routes more carefully, and I’m more conscious of watching the prices at gas stations along the way.”

With the nearest mall and Wal-Mart Supercenter more than 25 miles away in Norman, Moore said she makes sure to do her shopping on the way to or from work so she doesn’t have to drive as much on the weekends.

Clete Straub makes a similar commute from his home in Tulsa to his office 55 miles away in Cushing.

The manager of midcontinent business development at Enbridge Energy Co. Inc. traded in his Ford Explorer for an S80 Volvo when he accepted the job so much farther away from home. But even with the more fuel-efficient car, Straub said higher gasoline prices also make it harder for him to commit to driving to the office.

“I find myself questioning whether I need to make the trip every day because of the high gas prices,” he said. “I’ve been working out of my house about one day a week or when I have appointments in Tulsa.”

Gasoline prices probably will jump an additional 15 cents this spring and remain well above $2 a gallon through the heavy driving season, forecasters say. There’s also little relief in sight for crude oil prices, which are pushing gasoline costs higher. Crude prices probably will remain “near the high to mid-$40” a barrel range well into 2006, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.