Hawaii gas prices fall while national cost rises

NEW YORK » A surprise surge in gasoline prices is taking some of the fun out of summer for most of the country.

The national average for a gallon of gas at the pump has climbed to $3.67, a rise of 34 cents since July 1. An increase in crude oil prices and problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California, are mostly to blame.

But in eight states, including Hawaii, the average price of gas actually has gone down since that time.

Analysts don’t expect gas prices to get as high as they did in April, when 10 states, including Hawaii, endured at least $4 a gallon and the U.S. average topped out at $3.94. But this is still unwelcome news in this sluggish economy, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn’t get spent on movies and dinners out.

The rising prices could also put pressure on President Barack Obama in the heat of his re-election campaign.

Hawaii’s average price for gas Friday was $4.16, the highest in the nation but down 12 cents from where it was on July 1. Only Utah, down 14 cents to $3.45, and Alaska, down 19 cents to $3.92, had fallen further during that period.

Hawaii’s average gas price has been lower as of late. A week ago it was $4.14.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, said a major fire earlier this week at Chevron’s oil refinery in Richmond, Calif., won’t affect Hawaii.

"Hawaiian prices are disconnected from the rest of the country and have more to do with the international price of crude and some of the specific factors that impact your island state," Kloza said.

Kloza said crude prices internationally are right around $110 a barrel, and he doesn’t expect there to be much upside, with some U.S. refiners using less crude because of operational issues.

"You won’t see any appreciable gasoline leave Hawaii for California destinations because of the high freight, and I do not believe that the two refineries (Tesoro and Chevron) in Hawaii can make California-spec gasoline," he said. "I suspect the next month may be touch-and-go (on the mainland), but that will give way to lower demand, more robust production of gasoline as summer specs give way to autumn standards, and the compression of currently very high refining margins. But it all makes for interesting August theater, particularly in an election year."

When Phil Van Schepen recently went to fill up his dry-cleaning delivery van in Coon Rapids, Minn., he found a Post-it note a driver before him had placed on the pump faulting Obama for high gasoline prices.

"It’s a reminder of his energy policies overall, which I don’t agree with," said Van Schepen, who buys about 100 gallons a week and finds he is spending about $40 more than he did in early July. Still, he said the Post-it "was a bit much" because the president isn’t responsible for gasoline prices.

Analysts and economists agree, saying prices for crude oil and wholesale gasoline are set on financial exchanges around the world based on supply and demand and expectations about how those factors may change.

The price at the pump in the U.S. fell more than 60 cents per gallon during the spring as the global economy slowed and turmoil in the Middle East seemed to subside.

But crude oil is climbing again. Production outages in South Sudan and the North Sea, Western sanctions that have cut the flow of Iranian oil, Iran’s threat to block tankers passing through the vital Strait of Hormuz, and fears that the violence in Syria could escalate into a wider regional conflict have driven up oil prices.

Seasonal factors are also sending pump prices higher. Gas usually costs more in the late spring and summer because refiners have to make more expensive blends of gasoline to meet clean-air rules and because the summer driving season boosts demand.

Also, in the past few weeks — in addition to the Chevron oil refinery blaze in California — pipelines serving Wisconsin and Illinois ruptured, and refineries were shut down unexpectedly because of equipment problems in Illinois and Indiana.

Gasoline prices shot up more than 50 cents in the span of a month in Indiana, Vermont, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin. And California drivers have seen gas climb 13 cents since the fire on Monday. Motorists in many cities there are paying well over $4.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Dave Segal and The Associated Press contributed to this story.