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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Gas prices fall in Clark County

More than a dozen local stations at less than $3 per gallon

By , Columbian Business Editor
Published:

For the first time in many years, motorists can look forward to a pleasant surprise at the local gas station — gasoline that costs less than $3 a gallon.

You still have to look for deals like that: AAA Oregon/Idaho’s survey shows an average price of $3.33 per gallon this week for regular unleaded in Vancouver, and The Columbian’s much-smaller survey shows prices averaging $3.26. Still, just a few gas stations around town have slipped below the $3 barrier, and its unlikely that prices have bottomed out yet.

A quick search of GasBuddy.com found 13 stations in Clark County selling gas for less than $3 a gallon, with the Costco on Southeast 192nd Ave at Southeast 1st Street winning the bargain-hunter award with gas at $2.91 per gallon. Both GasBuddy.com and AAA predict further price drops, and perhaps a national average that’s below $3. The current national average in AAA’s survey is $3.09.

The last time AAA reported an average gasoline price below $3 per gallon in Vancouver was on Oct. 15, 2010, said Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho. The auto club forecasts that average prices for Oregon could drop to $3.15 by year’s end. Oregon and Washington prices typically follow a parallel track.

And although prices tend to drop in the fall and when the economy turns sour, following the law of supply and demand, the current pattern is something different, Dodds said. “The biggest factor this time is that crude (oil) is dropping like a rock, so retail prices are following suit,” she said.

The reasons for the drop in crude prices are matters for analysis and debate. But it’s clear that more oil is coming onto the market from sources outside the Middle East, including oil shale fields in the United States. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is forecasting declines in oil consumption in Japan, Europe and the United States as the industrialized nations increase efficiencies and turn to other energy sources.

The growing diversity of oil sources outside the Middle East has eased investors’ fears about disruption of oil supplies due to conflicts in the Middle East and other oil-producing foreign hot spots, Dodds believes. “The U.S. is producing more oil domestically, so we are more insulated from disruptions than even a few years ago,” she said. Also, she said, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States so far has been unwilling to cut its production levels, likely to maintain its 40 percent share of world oil production.

On Wednesday, there was new evidence that the end of falling prices is not in sight: crude oil prices fell to 27-month lows.

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Columbian Business Editor