Gasoline still costly in Washington and the West
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald The lowest gasoline price in Moses Lake is $2.65 (cash price), available at Safeway, One Stop Mart on Wheeler Road, and Sunval at Kittleson and SR-17, according to gasbuddy.com, a web site that reports gasoline prices at service stations across the country.
MOSES LAKE — Despite the demands of summer driving, gasoline prices across the U.S. have fallen in the last month an average of 4.8 cents per gallon since June.
However, in Washington state, which has the fourth most expensive gasoline in the nation behind California, Alaska, and Hawaii, per-gallon prices remain almost unchanged since June, though they have risen roughly 2 cents per gallon in the last few days.
According to Patrick DeHaan, a petroleum analyst for gasbuddy.com a website in Chicago which tracks gasoline prices across the U.S., the reason is fairly simply. Washington has very high gasoline taxes, and the West Coast is more remote from the dense network of pipelines and refineries that links much of the Midwest, South, and East together.
“The West Coast is not well connected to the rest of the country,” DeHaan said. “The Rockies do a good job of keeping the West disconnected.”
State and federal gasoline taxes in Washington are 68 cents per gallon, second in the country behind Pennsylvania’s 78 cents per gallon, DeHaan said.
As of Monday morning, the average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline was $2.25, well below the average Washington price of $2.81 — which is where prices are hovering in Grant County, according to gasbuddy.com.
In neighboring Adams County, however, average gasoline prices are slightly higher at $2.85 per gallon.
According to gasbuddy.com, the highest gasoline prices in Washington are in Mason County, northwest of Olympia, at $2.92, while the lowest are on the far northeast end of the state in Pend Oreille County, where gasoline is nearly 40 cents per gallon cheaper at $2.55.
In Moses Lake, the lowest gas price was $2.65 per gallon Safeway, while the highest was $2.89 at the Shell station on the corner of East Nelson and South Pioneer, according to gasbuddy.com.
DeHaan said gasoline prices have held fairly steady this summer as crude oil prices have proven volatile, rising at the end of June but falling in the first two weeks of July.
“The bigger issue we’re now looking at that could affect gasoline prices is a last-minute special meeting OPEC will be holding on July 27,” DeHaan said. “It remains a bit of a mystery what, if anything, they may decide, but all eyes will be focused on any policy changes or production changes.”
As of mid-day Monday, the price for West Texas Intermediate — the benchmark for crude oil prices — was $46.06 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), while the NYMEX price for commodity gasoline was $1.56 per gallon.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.