Gas jumps to near-record $3.29 a gallon
Ryan McLean doesn't really mind that his truck's not running.
And now that gas prices have jumped to a near-record $3.29 a gallon in Bonners Ferry, the 17-year-old is less anxious about getting his 1986 Toyota fixed. For now, he'll bum rides from family.
“I'd rather have the money in my pocket than putting it in my gas tank,” said Ryan, who had been spending $40 a week for gas to drive to school and work at Panhandle Restaurant.
Gas prices as of Monday had hit $3.25 at Zip Trip and $3.29 at the Shell Food Mart, which is now Conoco, both on South Main Street in Bonners Ferry.
At Three Mile Corner Store, gas was $3.29 a gallon, where the reaction is not good.
“(I'm hearing) it's getting way too high and it jumped 20 cents over night,” said cashier Stacie Jiles. “People are not very happy. I've heard from the boss there's no end in sight.”
Just a week ago, prices hovered at $3.09 a gallon in Bonners Ferry.
In just the past two weeks, the national average price for a gallon of gas has spiraled 19 cents higher to $3.14 a gallon, signaling that inflation and a weak dollar are having more influence at the pump than short term supply and demand dynamics, according to a news release from AAA in Idaho.
Idaho gas prices, which haven't edged below $3 yet this year, are on the rise too, up about a dime in the past two weeks to the $3.10 mark. A year ago, national and Idaho average prices were $2.35 and $2.23 respectively.
“The latest round of price run-ups is occurring absent some of the short term supply and demand fundamentals including how much gas is available and how much we're using,” according to AAA Idaho Director of Public and Government Affairs Dave Carlson.
A government inventory report a week ago showed U.S. gas inventories were at a 14-year high, signaling that driver demand is down.
Higher pump prices mirror hundred-dollar-a-barrel oil. Last week, prices topped the $101 mark, then retreated to $98 the following day. “Today, they were again trading above $100,” Carlson said.
Prices for globally-traded commodities, including oil, grain and metals are rising, signaling that a weak dollar and inflation expectations will have more influence on what motorists pay at the pump
during the next few months.
“We don't know how high pump prices will go,” Carlson said. Some analysts think a major downward correction could occur at any time, but speculators in the futures markets continue to bid up the price of oil and gas.
Current prices are short of the record marks set last year. The U.S. average price peaked at $3.23 on May 24 a year ago. Idaho's record mark of $3.28 was set May 28, 2007.