Colorado gasoline price sets record

Regular unleaded hits all-time high of $3.363 a gallon

Gargi Chakrabarty

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Jose Medina, of Abilene, Texas, watches the price at the pump Thursday as he fills up his truck at a Sapp Brothers truck stop in Denver. Colorado's average diesel price reached a record $4.068 Thursday.

Colorado's average gasoline price broke a record Thursday, signaling a relentless run-up at the pumps in the weeks leading up Memorial Day weekend.

Experts have warned that Colorado drivers could see $4 a gallon before summer. That possibility came closer to reality Thursday when regular unleaded gasoline hit a high of $3.363 a gallon. Nationwide, the average was $3.418 - setting another record.

"I am seriously thinking of taking my bike to work every day," said Alan Perkins, who lives in southeast Denver.

He grimaced while filling up his Honda Accord at the Conoco gas station at Colorado Boulevard and East Eighth Avenue.

The station sold unleaded, regular at $3.399, but the price at a handful of Denver stations ran as high as $3.499, according to gasbuddy.com.

"I see gasoline prices still going higher," said Bryant Gimlin, energy risk manager of Gray Oil & Gas, a diesel and gasoline wholesaler. "Colorado's gasoline price could peak on or around Memorial Day, and it could reach $4."

The previous national record was set May 24, when gasoline averaged $3.227. Colorado also hit a record that day, at $3.344.

On an inflation-adjusted basis, gas prices peaked nationally in March 1981 at $3.405, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

The latest increases in gas prices stem from investor concerns about sagging U.S. gasoline supplies ahead of the peak summer driving season.

Also, refiners are switching over from winter grade gasoline to the more expensive but less polluting fuel they're required to sell in the summer. That has pulled supplies lower as refiners try to sell off their winter fuel.

Crude oil (the base for gasoline and diesel) has spiked higher on concerns about falling supplies and rising global demand.

Crude rose to a trading record of $115.54 a barrel Thursday but later pulled back when the dollar strengthened to settle down 7 cents at $114.86.

Truck drivers have been dealing with $4-a-gallon prices for several days. On Thursday, Colorado's average diesel price reached a record $4.068.

At the Sapp Brothers truck stop near Quebec Street and Interstate 70 in Denver, truck driver Dan Brumitt paid little attention to the pump selling diesel at a cash price of $4.03.

He went about securing an 86,000-pound Caterpillar road leveler on a flatbed trailer behind his semi, en route to Parachute in Garfield County. His rig averages 4.67 miles a gallon.

"It costs me $700 to $800 to fill up the truck," Brumitt, 46, said. "I'm a company driver, so the company pays for fuel. They tell us to be careful where we re-fuel, take the shortest route and drive below the speed limit."

At an adjacent pump, Cayetano Marquez said he stopped driving his own semi because he couldn't make a profit. Instead, Marquez, 52, pays $150 a month to park his semi at a lot and drives for Ralph Martinez, a trucking company in Commerce City.

The Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy, forecasts that high prices will push down the demand for gasoline by 0.4 percent during peak driving months in the summer.

Overall, the use of petroleum products is expected to drop by 90,000 barrels a day this year. The EIA had projected petroleum consumption would rise by 40,000 barrels a day.

Still, when summer arrives, some experts believe demand will rise regardless of prices.

Said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.: "If you've got a vacation planned to Disney World, you're still going to take the vacation."

chakrabartyg@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2976 The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• April 18, 2008

  7:10 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  rushrulesbaby writes:

  Well FloydHill, as a driver of an SUV (a free citizen of the United States) it is none of your business what kind of vehicle I drive. The trips I take and where and when I go are not your concern. There is plenty of oil in the ground and more than enough for centuries to come so get over your control issues. ps. I just got back from a 3500 mile trip in my SUV and paid for the gas myself. Don't like it? Get a teeny car and wait behind my SUV!

• April 18, 2008

  9:42 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Steph writes:

  The only bright spot in this whole expensive gas situation is that maybe fewer people will buy SUVs. If they want to drive those gas guzzlers, let them deal with paying almost $100 to fill up the tank.

• April 18, 2008

  9:48 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Seabreezes writes:

  Let us not forget another reason for the proliferation of SUV's...if memory serves didn't (or don't) some insurance companies give a discount for driving such a big vehicle? The way it figures, SUV drivers are still not quite at a disadvantage, as the increase in gas prices is offset by the insurance discount. When/if gas reaches $5 a gallon, that may change. For now, it still makes fiscal sense to drive a large vehicle. And in the sake of full disclosure, I drive a small Honda.

• April 18, 2008

  10:33 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  davies writes:

  SUVs come in many sizes and shouldn't all be lumped together. And let's not forget to mention the huge pickups as well. Check out some of those big quad-cab and/or dually-wheeled monsters, and look in the truck bed - it's scratchless! It's just some guy's daily driver vehicle.

  But I agree that people can and should buy and drive what they want, as long as they don't whine about high gas prices, conspiracies and excess profits. Yeah, so we set a new record gas price. Gee, it passed the inflation-adjusted cost from 1981. The vehicle choices and alternatives have always been out there, and they are better than ever now. So drive what you want to drive and DON'T WHINE!

• April 18, 2008

  10:44 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  mark79trans writes:

  So, what on earth possessed my family to buy a Denali (Yukon LX)

  1. Three kids
  2. The friends of three kids
  3. Their stuff; our stuff
  4. Two dogs
  5. Pulling a trailer
  5. 4x4 necessary for mountain driving in the winter (often fall and spring)

  ...what were we thinking??? Stupid us!

  Anyhow, it stays home when I go to work when the roads are clear. You know, if you don't have a reason for this vehicle, it seams pretty stupid. Although, some of us need them for the reasons I listed. Besides, it is either this or my '87 3/4 ton Suburban with a huge lift and tires for off-roading. A co-worker parked his big Dodge Cummins Dually used to pull a 5th wheel trailer and purchased a 4 banger to drive to work. People will always need these vehicles and a lot of us keep them at home when we can.

  I am sure some ignorant a$$ went off on my Denali on my drive this morning not knowing that I drove it based on the foot of snow on my 200 yard driveway.

  With regard to the insurance statement...you take a hit for anything 4x4 so (not really).

• April 18, 2008

  10:45 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Spencer writes:

  I guess maybe we should stop electing oil company executives.

• April 18, 2008

  11:14 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Squatch writes:

  I drive only to work and my truck stays parked all weekend so most of us arent just filling up and driving around all day. i think it is crap that they are jacking us all. Once again its okay to be a criminal when you are rich.

  I can gaurantee that people who have a honda civic drive way more miles a week than i do so who is being more wasteful? the gas price is way out of control and at this point we have to realize their isnt much we can do other than find another way for us to get to work. For some its a matter of riding a bike for others it isnt so easy not everyone can live 5 miles from work.

• April 18, 2008

  11:18 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  davies writes:

  Spencer: Conspiracy theories and scapegoating are forms of WHINING AND MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY! I hope you naive types with your simplistic 'elect a Democrat for president and all will be well' beliefs actually get your wish.

  Imagine your dismay when he/she doesn't have a magic wand and can't make oil and gas prices go down, and he/she has to talk about world demand and refinery capacity and additives and so on. But what the dems CAN do is collect more taxes from the oil companies! And they are quite likely to pass legislation do so, if there's an opportune time when prices are lower for the moment. HOORAY!

  Uhhh, except that not long after that, oil and gas prices will (you guessed it) go up again, even more. Compliments of the party of the people, not oil company executives. Yay.

• April 18, 2008

  11:19 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Squatch writes:

  Also dont forget OUR President urged us all to stimulate OUR economy after 9-11 and one major way of doing this was to buy American cars that were offering 0% financing which Honda & Toyota didnt offer. The shocker was not 5 months after that gas prices started to get out of control.

  For some people it is easier for them just to go out and buy another car that gets better mileage but that isnt the case for everybody.

• April 18, 2008

  11:29 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  davies writes:

  FloydHill: Omigosh, thank you! I thought I was the only one left in the world who objected to the apostrophe being used with a 's' to indicate plurals.

  PEOPLE! It's not SUV's if you mean 'more than one SUV'. Plural is indicated with the letter s, NOT apostrophe s! If you think people like me nitpick too much, fine; but call us nitpickers, NOT nitpicker's!