KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Scott Hayama filled up at the Kahala Chevron yesterday. Hayama said the bill for filling up his truck's tank can run to $50.
Isle gas prices
lead nationRegular self-service gasoline
averages $1.96 in Honolulu
and higher on the neighbor isles
Honolulu has the highest gas prices in the nation this week, according to a new survey.
"It bothers me that our prices are so high," said Makiki resident Mary Ann Nakamichi, 55, who bought gasoline at the Beretania Chevron, where regular self-serve was going for $1.99 a gallon.
The Lundberg Survey listed Honolulu's as the most costly gasoline in the nation, with a self-serve regular average of just less than $1.96 per gallon.
San Francisco was second highest at about $1.80 per gallon. The cheapest gasoline market was Charleston, S.C., at $1.39 per gallon, analyst Trilby Lundberg said yesterday.
Across the country, rising crude oil prices raised the average cost of gasoline by nearly 4 cents per gallon in the past two weeks, according to the Camarillo, Calif.-based petroleum research company.
"Higher wholesale gasoline price rises have not yet been entirely passed through to the retail level, and that could increase pressure for another small boost in pump prices," Lundberg said.
No other Hawaii locations were included in the Lundberg survey, though gasoline prices on the neighbor islands are significantly higher. The American Automobile Association said a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline averaged $2.18 yesterday in Hilo and $2.31 in Wailuku.
Lundberg's survey of nearly 8,000 service stations on Friday showed an average of all grades of gasoline including taxes was about $1.59, up about 3.9 cents since the previous survey on July 25.
"Honolulu is the highest priced in everything," said Guy Kiyuna, 46, of Makiki.
"The gas companies make the highest profit margin here," he said, adding that several chain stores do the same.
At the Kahala Chevron, where the price of regular unleaded gasoline went up 2 cents a gallon to $1.97 at noon yesterday, customers who normally pay more than $2 for medium and premium grades were not happy but did not balk at the increase.
Seventeen-year-old Zachary Kurashige bemoaned the $2.11 price of premium gas as he filled his four-door Toyota Tacoma pickup truck yesterday.
"I fill up every two to three days," he said. Kurashige knows the price of gas at stations between Aiea, where he lives, and Kalama Valley where he makes frequent visits to his girlfriend, and could name the stations where prices were highest.
Scott Hayama, 40, normally spends $50 to fill his half-ton 4X4 Chevy truck. The Kaimuki resident uses his truck to pull a horse trailer to Kunia on weekends.
"Definitely outrageous, huh?" Hayama said of the $2.11 price. After spending $35.60 for 16 gallons yesterday afternoon, he said, "Not too bad today."
Claudia Manno, 36, of Kahala, said the higher prices have not deterred her from driving to work. "Unless it becomes super, super-expensive, and everybody has to get a bike and roller blades," said Manno.
"I grew up with expensive gas," added Manno, who is from Rome, where gas is more expensive than in the United States.
She said people there ride the bus, small motorcycles and cars. She said she drove an Opel that burned diesel fuel. "It's very cheap but it's bad for the environment."
Lundberg said Friday's nationwide average of all gasoline grades was nearly 17 cents cheaper per gallon than this year's high on March 21 of about $1.76. But the Friday average was about 14 cents more than the $1.45 nationwide figure of Aug. 9, 2002.
Lundberg said the decrease in overall gasoline supply may be due to refineries having a "disincentive" to buy crude oil at increased prices.
Crude oil futures prices increased about $2 per barrel during the past two weeks, which is equivalent to about 4 cents in rising prices at the pump, Lundberg said.
Crude oil futures closed at $32.18 per barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Friday, self-serve regular gasoline averaged about $1.56 per gallon, midgrade was about $1.66 and premium grade averaged about $1.75.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
