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Nickel here, nickel there, gas prices up everywhere By Jonathan Knutson The Forum - 08/26/2000 Gasoline prices could shoot up  possibly as much as 10 to 20 cents a gallon  from now through Labor Day.

Most Fargo-Moorhead stations were selling gas Friday for $1.49 per gallon, a nickel increase from earlier in the week. Moorheads Gas Stop, typically a benchmark for local gas prices, had a pump price of $1.46 Friday.

The nickel increase could be followed by further hikes.

Crude oil prices have been rising, so I wouldnt be at all surprised to see pump prices rise, too, said Russell Hanson, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association in Bismarck.

When retailers are forced to pay more for gasoline, they must pass on the additional cost to consumers, he said.

Crude oil, which had been at $29 a barrel, has risen to $32 in the past few weeks. Given that 10 percent rise, increases at the pump may be inevitable, he said.

A corresponding 10 percent rise in pump prices would push up Fargo-Moorheads prevailing rates to $1.60-$1.65 per gallon  20 cents higher than the price a few days ago.

The higher figures still would be less than what area motorists paid in June, when soaring crude oil prices pushed gas prices as high as $1.80 a gallon in Fargo-Moorhead. But crude oil prices subsequently declined, and gas prices did likewise.

Hanson noted that gas prices fell this week in parts of North Dakota, including Bismarck. A spokeswoman with the North Dakota Automobile said overall gas prices in the state are declining.

But that could be ending, Hanson said, because of rising crude oil prices and refineries traditional fall shift from gas to heating oil production.

http://www.in-forum.com/pub/08262000/35690.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 26, 2000