Gasoline and travel experts usually advise holiday travelers to fill up the gas tanks before leaving Oklahoma.
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Not this weekend.
Travelers headed south or east during the Labor Day weekend might find prices as much as 30 cents a gallon cheaper just across the state line.
Prices throughout the Plains and much of the Midwest are far above the national average.
Industry analysts blame the higher prices in the region on a series of refinery outages, a Coffeyville, Kan., refinery that flooded earlier this summer, a large refinery outage in Illinois and the fire at the Wynnewood refinery in late spring.
"Coffeyville is right there in the center of the Midwestern area, so a disruption there causes problems throughout the region,” said Bruce Bell, chairman emeritus of the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association of Oklahoma. "That's causing us to bring gasoline in from out of state and out of the region much more so than normal.”
The situation is heightened because it is more difficult to move fuel throughout the country in the summer because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires dozens of specially blended fuels for parts of the nation, Bell said. The summer blends are required until Sept. 15.
What are the prices?
•Nationwide, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.76 on Wednesday.
•Oklahomans paid an average of 8 cents more at $2.84 a gallon.
•The average price in Oklahoma City was nearly $2.85.
•Tulsans paid an average price of $2.82.
•North Dakota held the highest statewide average price in the Lower 48 at more than $3.07 a gallon. North Dakota on Wednesday received a 20-day waiver from the EPA, allowing suppliers to import gasoline from Canada.
•In Texas, the average price for gasoline was $2.66 on Wednesday.
•Arkansas averaged $2.67.
•Missouri weighed in at $2.69.
Contracts limit purchasesChris Newton, president of the Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, also attributed the price discrepancy to refinery problems in Oklahoma, Kansas and the Midwest.
"The current disparity between fuel prices in Oklahoma and Texas is marked by limited supplies attempting to address demand for fuels,” he said. "There is just not a lot of excess product available in today's wholesale market.”
Suppliers in Oklahoma and other parts of the region are limited in how much fuel they can buy from Texas, Arkansas and other lower-priced areas because of contracts, he said. Most of the terminals in north Texas are dedicated to the Dallas region.
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Just made a trip to Houston, Tx. It just amazes me that the further away we went the cheaper the gas. We paid $2.62 outside of Dallas and $2.44 in Houston. With hurricanes in the Gulf, they were not trying to see how high they could raise their gas prices. I really just don't understand. On Monday, gas here was $2.79, Tuesday $2.99, today some were going to $3.02, please explain this to me!
These high fuel prices are still leaving some people with the option of buying food or buying gas. If Oklahoma had a better public bus system I would definately ride it to work everyday. They should have routes that run north, south, east and west without having to go downtown just to transfer and it takes over a hour to get to work. It just does not seem like this is ever going to end.
Oklahomans should be d@##med proud of high oil prices and the part this wonderful state played in getting W and his oil buddies like Cheney voted into office. What goes around comes around ya rubes...sheesh. Lets be sure and get behind W's amnesty plan for illegal aliens now so the few intact veterans that come back from Iraq don't have jobs to come home to either.
Do they really expect us to swollow this garbage. Two weeks ago, KSWO reported that gas was higher in Lawton , because there was no competition. At that time , gas in south okla city was $2.64. In Lawton $3.09. Having worked at a refinery , a large portion of the refinery can be shut down and mot affect its ability to keep up normal production.
Some one needs to expose these oil companies for the crooks that they are.
The American people are being raped by big oil. but just keep on driving.
Gee....My salery is much less in this state than in most other states, I have to pay higher city/state taxes, plus a personal income tax, gas is higher...All the more reason to move out of state...funny that our state government can't figure out why people are leaving in droves.
I'm really tired of these excuses, too. David of Crescent hits it spot on in my book. Anytime the oil companies are making RECORD profits in the BILLIONS, I do not want to hear them whining because "we can't afford new refining capcity"... They need to suck it up & re-invest in their OWN businesses! .. .. .. .. My recent experience with this was a trip to Altus this past Saturday. Gas was $2.74/gal where I filled up. When I got back to central Oklahoma, gas was anywhere from $2.83-$2.86/gal. I grew up in SW Oklahoma & don't ever remember a time since I've moved to central OK (over 25 years ago) when gas was CHEAPER in Altus then in the OKC metro area. Because as you all know, Altus IS at the edge of the known universe & it takes more fuel to get things there! (Just a little local SW OK humor.)
Concerned, Central Oklahoma - Aug 30, 2007 at 11:28 am
We need to remove the profit factor and just nationalize the oil companies. Its the only intelligent way to do things. Then we need to see about centralizing agricultural production to ensure that rich people don't get paid to " plant nothing" as so often happens. Karl Marx really did have some good ideas it looks like.
Sorry to hear about your high gas prices. I moved to Florida 2 years ago after being in OKlahoma for 30 years. Everything out here is higher except for the gas. Paid $2.59 a gallon this morning.
Since I'm going to Dallas this weekend anyway, I will get just enough gas in OK to get me to the state line, then fill up in Texas. So tired of the excuses for the high prices!
Christina, oklahoma city - Aug 30, 2007 at 8:47 am
Consumers are not stupid. We're tired of hearing the usual "refineries are out due to flooding" or "we're afraid a storm is going to knock out a few refineries even though the storm is two days away" or the ever popular "refineries are switching over to the a different blend". When States around us are charging 2.66 when Norman gas stations are charging over $2.90, then this is price gouging, plain and simple. I thought Oklahoma had laws against this. I think citizens should demand an explaination from the gas stations. They need to prove to me that they are not getting a penny more profit than allowed by the Oklahoma Government.
I could probabaly buy some of this b-s if the quarterly reports from the oil companies didn't come back with RECORD PROFITS over and over again. Whether it is a supply problem, or a lack of refineries, the bottom line is we the consumer are taking it in the shorts. Fuel prices are killing us here in rural Oklahoma, and not much seems being done about it on ANY level. Those of us in agriculture are especially hard hit as so many of our operations asre fuel intensive; and there doesn't seem to be much relief in sight.
They will always come up with an excuse to raise the prices. Either a natural disaster or a hostage, war or "tension" in some third world country that is across the world. Oil will continue to dominate our lives and government until we are tired of it and do something about it.
Higher Oklahoma gasoline prices are not expected to affect Labor Day travel, AAA Oklahoma spokesman Chuck Mai said.
"But it's important for people to know what the statewide and citywide averages are where they're going,” he said. "If they see a price below the average, they'll know that might be a good time to fill up.”
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Some one needs to expose these oil companies for the crooks that they are.
The American people are being raped by big oil. but just keep on driving.