The still-rising cost of gasoline is now higher than ever locally, even when adjusted for inflation.
Friday’s average price for regular unleaded fuel was $3.17 a gallon in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area, according to AAA.
That’s the highest regional average price in recent years. Looking back, however, it even beats the inflation-adjusted highs of 1981. That year is the historical apex for gasoline prices both locally and nationally, at least since World War II.
Janet Ray, AAA’s local spokeswoman, said $1.42 is the highest price for regular unleaded she has on record during 1981, when Middle East unrest and an oil embargo took their toll at the pump. That price converts to $3.12 in today’s dollars, using federal inflation calculations.
The nationwide average is still short of the inflation-adjusted highs of the early 1980s. After edging up toward $3 a gallon, that average has gone down slightly, settling Friday at $2.89.
In the Puget Sound area, however, prices are still going up. Typically, the cost of gasoline rises through Memorial Day weekend, then eases a little. There’s no sign that trend won’t repeat this year.
“Everything that we’re reading indicates prices will stabilize,” Ray said. “But motorists shouldn’t expect large price drops just because Memorial Day comes and goes.”
One station that resisted the high price tide as long as it could is the Arlington Plaza Union 76 station, which was one of the last local stations selling gas under $3 a gallon earlier this week. As of Thursday, regular gasoline was selling there just below $2.97.
Jennifer Marteney, a manager at the Arlington station, said the business did it to stay below the competition.
“And to make some people happy,” she added.
But as its tanks neared empty, the station had to buy more fuel and raise prices to recoup the higher wholesale costs its paying. So, on Friday, the price went up to $3.169, more in line with neighboring stations.
Crude oil prices fell Friday, but ended the day just more than $72 a barrel, roughly $2 a barrel higher than the previous week.
While the U.S. Energy Department reported rising inventories of both gasoline and oil, worries about a potential conflict with Iran, the ongoing war in Iraq and fresh troubles in Nigeria have kept oil traders nervous.
On Friday, a ruptured pipeline exploded in Nigeria as villagers rushed to collect fuel from it, killing up to 200. Rebels in that country also have disrupted oil production with attacks and kidnappings.
Frank Holmes, state manager for the Western States Petroleum Association, said as long as crude oil stays at highs above $70 a barrel, motorists shouldn’t expect much relief soon.
“Clearly, the market forces are keeping everything up,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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