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how much does it cost to fill your gas tank?
from metro news west virginia
How Did We Get to $4?
Shawn Falkenstein
How did things ever get this bad?
How did gas prices get so incredibly high?
How will we ever get them under control?
While I cannot predict the future of gas prices I can shed some light on how gas prices reached an all-time high this week of $4.04 per gallon in West Virginia. I have compiled a list of prices and excuses...er...reasons the oil companies raised the prices over the past nine years.
First, let's go back to the good 'ole days of 1999.
On Thanksgiving weekend of 1999 gas prices were just $1.33 per gallon. It was the waning days of the Clinton administration and the end of a prosperous decade that saw extremely low gas prices. A year later prices had climbed, but not much. Thanksgiving of 2000 the average price of a gallon of unleaded in West Virginia was $1.57. George W. Bush had just been elected president in a controversial election. For the next year gas prices stayed steady, rising and falling by no more than 20 cents a gallon.
Then the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. One would think by the way oil companies respond to similar events today that such an event would cause panic and force prices at the pump to skyrocket.
Not so. In fact, gas prices went down. In December of 2001 gas was just $1.11 per gallon in West Virginia.
Over the next two years prices steadily raised by a few cents a month until they reached $1.47 a gallon in March of 2003. We all know what happened in March of 2003--the United States invaded Iraq.
That surely sent gas prices through the roof, right?
Nope.
Six months later gas was just $1.69 a gallon. At the time AAA said prices were far lower than what many energy watchers were forecasting prior to the war in Iraq. Some were predicting prices near two dollars a gallon during the spring and summer of 2003.
A major power outage in the Northeast and Midwest that summer briefly shut down gasoline refineries and fuel distribution and delivery operations combined with a break in a pipeline in Arizona caused prices to spike.
Americans were outraged at the high prices and fearful of the prospect that prices could top $2.00 a gallon, but looking back we would all gladly pay those prices today.
In 2004, prices continued to steadily climb until they reached that terrible $2.00 mark late that summer. U.S. gasoline demand that summer was a record high 9.4 million barrels per day, which was about two percent above the previous year. Crude oil was around $50 a barrel on Labor Day. Over the following months gas prices flirted above and below the $2.00 mark. Hurricane Ivan put a crimp on oil supplies by damaging oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. It was estimated that the U.S. lost more than 11 million barrels of oil production over a two week period.
But Hurricane Ivan would be a puppy dog compared to what was in store for the Gulf Coast.
In late August 2005 Hurricane Katrina ripped through the gulf destroying oil rigs and much of the city of New Orleans. It crippled refineries throughout the region. Gas prices jumped more than 70 cents in a matter of days and we were paying $3.09 a gallon by Labor Day.
Things calmed down and prices went back down, but never since have dropped below $2.00 a gallon. By Christmas 2005 the prices were down to $2.24 a gallon.
In January of 2006 experts said a stronger economy led to higher energy demands which drove up the cost of crude oil and wholesale gasoline. The average price of a gallon of gas was $2.44 in West Virginia. By March questions over the strength of the U-S economy and the Iranian nuclear issue drove up prices. A strong spring and summer travel season increased demand and prices.
In April of 2007 oil company officials said a larger population of people relying on cars along with refinery fires and outages lowering the production of gas resulted in higher gas prices. Gas companies claimed to have the lowest gasoline reserves that they ever had thanks to Hurricane Katrina and stoked the fires of fear that a bad hurricane season could bring prices up even more if there was damage to gasoline refineries. Continued unrest in the Middle East and Nigeria also contributed to the high prices.
However, the ever increasing cost of gas did not affect travel, until this year.
On Thanksgiving of 2001--post 9/11--AAA said travel was down, but it affected the airlines more than the highways. Those that were traveling, travelled by car. Eighty-seven percent of the travelers that Thanksgiving drove. That added up to 30-million travelers who travelled by motor vehicle, that's out of 34-million travelers using planes, trains and automobiles.
By Thanksgiving 2005--post Katrina--AAA said more than 37 million people travelled more than 50 miles from home.
Then by Thanksgiving 2007, despite the rise in price, AAA saw a record 38.7 million Americans to travel 50 miles or more over the holiday weekend. That was a 1.6 percent increase over the previous year.
This Memorial Day weekend AAA expected 37.9 million Americans to travel more than 50 miles from home. The first decrease in travel since 9/11. However, AAA spokesperson Bevi Powell doesn’t think $4 gas will stop people from travelling this summer. We will all be getting economic stimulus checks from the federal government and many will spend their IRS refund checks on vacations. However, the destinations may change. Norris anticipates more Americans will opt for shorter trips closer to home.
So, as Loretta Lynn said, “We’ve come a long way baby.” From $1.11 a gallon just seven years ago to $4.04 today with no end in sight.
Here is a date-by-date breakdown of the history of gas prices in West Virginia. Numbers are based on the AAA fuel gauge and are for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.
Thanksgiving 1999--$1.33
11/21/2000--$1.57
6/12/2001--$1.64
6/27/2001--$1.54
8/23/2001--$1.40
12/19/2001--$1.11
3/27/2002--$1.32
7/10/2002--$1.35
10/2/2002--$1.43
1/2/2003--$1.47
5/29/2003--$1.42
9/9/2003--$1.69
4/14/2004--$1.74
5/5/2004--$1.84
6/9/2004--$1.96
10/20/2004--$2.04
12/15/2004--$1.81
4/6/2005--$2.29
5/11/2005--$2.11
6/8/2005--$2.09
8/10/2005--$2.36
9/1/2005 (post-Katrina) $3.09
12/14/2005--$2.24
3/8/2006--$2.31
6/29/2006--$2.79
1/15/2007--$2.21
4/23/2007--$2.57
6/27/2007--$2.98
11/20/2007--$3.15
2/11/2008--$3.06
3/14/2008--$3.37
4/23/2008--$3.61
5/24/2008--$4.04
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Originally Posted by OliX
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