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Isle gas prices
no longer tops
in the U.S.

A survey shows that Hawaii
now ranks fourth at $1.86
behind three
Midwestern states

Honolulu Gas Prices

From staff and wire reports

A spike in gas prices in the Midwest has bumped Hawaii from its traditional position atop the list of states with the highest average pump prices.

In a June survey by the Automobile Association of America, Hawaii ranked fourth highest with an average price for regular unleaded of $1.86, including taxes. That fell below Illinois with an average $1.98, Michigan at $1.96, and Wisconsin, $1.91. But Hawaii's average, which included neighbor island prices, was still well above the U.S. average of $1.63, according to the survey of more than 60,000 stations in metropolitan areas surveyed daily.

As early as last month, according to AAA, Hawaii topped the nation with an average per-gallon price of $1.85, compared to the next highest state, Nevada, at $1.67, and a U.S. average of $1.51. Last June, Hawaii's $1.51 average ranked above Oregon's $1.44 and the national average of $1.14.

Despite Hawaii's high statewide average, the gap between gas prices on Oahu and the mainland has shrunk to levels not seen in years.

For most of the 1990s, the average Honolulu price -- based on a weekly Star-Bulletin survey of six stations -- hovered at roughly 25 cents to 50 cents above the national average.

But the gap last year -- the first full year since the state filed a $2 billion antitrust lawsuit against Hawaii oil companies, accusing them of price fixing -- fell to as low as 6 cents. Today it is about 12 cents, with Honolulu prices averaging $1.75 a gallon, according to the Star-Bulletin survey.

If Oahu motorists were paying prices more like the norm of the 1990s, regular unleaded today would cost more than $2 a gallon.

Oil and gas prices have surged in the past year as OPEC nations cut production.

But in the past month, prices in the Midwest spiked dramatically, prompting state and federal investigations.

There's been no shortage of blame -- rising oil prices, pipeline problems, short supplies, cleaner gasoline requirements and even an esoteric patent dispute, to name a few. But initial examinations of these explanations has provided no clear picture of why gasoline in a matter of a few weeks jumped as much as 50 cents a gallon in some areas of the Midwest -- nearly five times as much as increases nationwide.

The price surge has politicians worried in this election year. The Clinton administration has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible illegal price gouging in the Midwest.

Meanwhile, OPEC ministers were expected to agree this week to boost petroleum output by at least 500,000 barrels a day, or by 2 percent.