Gas cap will increase for second straight week
Rising crude oil prices and colder mainland weather are blamed for the 6.5-cent hike
Staff and news service reports
Gasoline prices in Hawaii are expected to rise by 6.5 cents next week because of the rise in crude oil prices and cold weather across the mainland, the state said yesterday.
It will be the second straight week that the state's gas cap will increase, after eight straight weeks of declines.
The pretax, wholesale cap will be set at $1.88 on Oahu, $2.02 on Kauai and Maui, $2.03 in Hilo and $2.05 in Kona.
Motorists on Oahu can expect to pay about $2.59 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline, according to Star-Bulletin calculations. Lanai residents would pay the highest price at about $2.96 per gallon. The statewide average would be about $2.76 per gallon. The prices include taxes and an estimated 12-cent-per-gallon dealer markup.
Yesterday, the average retail price of regular unleaded gasoline in Hawaii stood at $2.64, which was the highest in the nation and 46 cents above the national average, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
The auto club bases its survey on credit card transactions from the previous day at more than 85,000 self-service stations nationwide, including 222 in Hawaii.
Honolulu had the lowest prices in the state at $2.57, while Maui had the highest average at $2.87 a gallon.
The cap fluctuated wildly in the first two months after its Sept. 1 introduction, as its early weeks coincided with the arrival of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast.
Hawaii's caps are based on average of spot wholesale prices in the Gulf of Mexico, New York and Los Angeles, where prices track closely to crude oil.