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February 22, 2000

AAA Michigan: GAS PRICES HIT RECORD HIGH

By A.J. DICKERSON - Associated Press Writer

Statewide gasoline prices have reached a record high, AAA Michigan said Monday.

The auto club's weekly "Fuel Gauge" survey of 300 gas stations found prices were up 6.3 cents a gallon for self-serve regular. The statewide average was $1.502 per gallon, AAA said.

That's the highest price since the Dearborn, Mich., club began tracking gas prices in 1973 in Michigan.

In the Detroit area, the same gallon averaged $1.487, a jump of 9 cents over last week.

Statewide prices on average were 59.2 cents a gallon more expensive than they were during this week of 1999, the club said.

The rising prices have some drivers trying to conserve gas.

"We've been more of a homebody since all the gas prices have went up," Candice Sanborn of Burton, Mich., told The Flint Journal. "Being a family of five, it's hard to pay for gas, especially when you're on a budget."

William Eddy may trade his GMC full-size pickup because he lives in Burton and works at a landscape business in Clarkston, Mich., racking up about 350 miles a week commuting.

"I'm thinking about getting one of those little foreign cars that are supposed to get real good gas mileage," he said.

Gasoline prices have been rising steadily across the nation since last March when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut crude oil production by 7.5 percent, or more than 2 million barrels a day, to try to boost prices that had fallen to 12-year lows.

Nationally, some analysts have predicted pump prices could rise as high as $1.60 to $1.70 per gallon before the problem eases.

Roger Diwan, managing director for global oil markets at the Petroleum Finance Co. in Washington, expected OPEC would increase oil production 1.5 million to 1.7 million barrels a day. But he said inventories are low enough that it wouldn't dramatically bring prices down.

Gas prices could be worse if they'd kept pace with inflation over the past two decades, said Mark Perry, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Michigan's campus in Flint.

According to U.S. Department of Energy statistics, gasoline cost $1.25 a gallon in 1980 and $1.41 a gallon in 1981. Based on those figures, today's price would be $2.71 a gallon if adjusted for inflation, he said.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2000/02/22/local.20000222-sbt-FULL-A2-AAA_Michigan__Gas_pr.sto

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 22, 2000

Answers

Just our local gas price news flash: 147.9 regular, 153.9 medium, 166.9 supreme - NW WA State

-- Sammie (sammie0x@yahoo.com), February 22, 2000.

The high price of gas which normal onset is Memorial Day has spread across the nation from its birth in New England. The pain is coming in bigger and bigger doses.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), February 22, 2000.

Local (lowest!) regular unleaded price is running $1.709 for self- serve...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 22, 2000.