Gas prices
continued from pagelA
al’s office has issued 36 gas sta
tions in Oregon with Civil Inves
tigation Demands, which will re
quire the stations to answer
questions about why their prices
rose so much after Sept. 11. Most
of the stations, she said, have
been in rural areas or small
towns where drivers have few
options as to where to buy gas.
There was legitimate concern
among oil companies, providers
(called jobbers) and station owners
as to what the gas supply situation
would be immediately following the
terrorist attacks, said Brent DeHart,
spokesman for the Oregon Gasoline
Dealers Association. For about two
days following the attack, several
stations either came close to running
out of gas or did run out, he said.
“Many dealers raised prices by
about four cents a gallon so they
wouldn’t completely run out,” De
Hart said. “As soon as the stations
were replenished, prices went
back down.”
The federal government did
shut off a majority of the gas
pipelines throughout the nation
as a safety precaution, said Ore
gon Petroleum Marketers Associ
ation Spokesman Steve O’Toole.
Once the lines opened again, he
said, stations did not have to wor
ry about their supply.
O’Toole also said that prices had
been going up in the gas market for
at least two weeks before the at
tacks, so much of the price increas
es were not due to stations panick
ing over the event.
People also began to panic about
the possibility of the gas supply run
ning out if, in response to the terror
ist actions, the United States at
tacked the Middle East, said AAA
Spokesman Elliott Eki.
“People were showing up at
gas stations with 55 gallon drums
and wanting to fill them with
gas,” Eki said.
Gas prices are now back to nor
mal, if not lower than what they
were before the crisis, Eki said,
with Oregon’s average price at
$1.77 a gallon.
“The stations and providers had
to deal with the demand issue be
fore they could lower their prices
again,’’ Eki said. “But now, the price
for crude oil is the lowest it’s been in
the past two years, and with the re
duction in airline flights, more oil is
available for gasoline.”
So those who have their prices
above $2 a gallon for unleaded reg
ular gas at this time are charging
too much, O’Toole said.
Brian Doherty, the retained advo
cate for the Western States Petrole
um Association, said few of the sta
tions are owned by the actual
company whose name appears on
their sign. Most companies, such as
Chevron, Texaco and Shell, are sup
pliers to individual stations and de
liver their oil through independent
providers. He said the stations who
are speculating the prices are not
necessarily reflecting the wholesale
price of the oil.
Spokesmen for the OPMA,
OGDA and the WSPA all said they
have begun and will continue to
work with the Attorney General’s
office to stop price speculation in
the gasoline market.
Lindsay Buchele is the community editor for
the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached
atlindsaybuchele@dailyemerald.com.
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