Gas prices show no signs of decreasing

The trend of increasing gas prices might cause some area residents to stay home Memorial Day weekend, and officials said it looks like these high prices are here to stay, at least for the summer.
Jon Viets — executive vice president of the Independence-based Crescent Oil Co. — predicts residents in southeast Kansas, like usual, won’t find much relief from high gas prices until after Labor Day.
“Based upon historic examples, I would expect gasoline prices to reach a relative peak here at Memorial Day, to pretty much stay at the peak through the Fourth of July and then begin to soften or at least stabilize through Labor Day,” Viets said.
Prices for Crescent Oil — which supplies fuel to some area gas stations, like Pittsburg Truck ‘N Travel — increased to $3.80 a gallon Wednesday, he said. The state average cost of regular unleaded fuel Wednesday was $3.736, which is also the highest recorded average so far in Kansas, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
Viets said he expects prices to continue to climb throughout the week and that this increase in prices is leading to a decline in sales.
“We believe our industry is seeing about a 6-percent decline in consumption since winter, since gas prices have begun to climb,” he said.
Bill Wivel, manager of Frontenac Express gas station, agreed that high gas prices will probably affect the amount of traveling done Memorial Day weekend.
“Since they’re drastically higher than they’ve ever been, I think [gas prices] will definitely hamper this weekend and slow travel down, especially to area lakes and things like that,” Wivel said.
Frontenac Express is supplied by the Harrison, Ark.-based Petromark Inc., and after looking at recent evidence, Wivel said he thinks gas prices will continue to rise.
“All the reports are saying gas is going to be going higher and higher, especially toward the Fourth of July and other holiday weekends,” he said.
But gas stations aren’t necessarily profiting from the price increase.
Kathy Rakestraw, owner of Pittsburg Truck ‘N Travel, said that even though she thinks most people will brave the high prices and travel this weekend, her gas station will still feel some loss.
“It’s going to hurt us — the customer count is going to be down,” Rakestraw said. “People can’t spend money inside when they have to put it all in the gas tank.”
And although area gas prices might be higher than those in some bigger cities, Viets said he thinks prices in southeast Kansas are comparable to prices in other similarly-sized markets.
“If you go to the big city, you tend to see lower prices because ... the oil companies themselves sometimes price differently in the big markets,” he said, adding that larger cities are able to price gas lower because they make more profit on items inside the store.
“Bigger cities get a better price, high volume, and may have such terrific inside volume and make 50 percent on Snickers bars that they don’t care if they make any money on gas.”

Kimber Wenzelburger can be reached at t.kimber.wenzelburge@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 135.