It's unbelievable

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

	Coastal Point • JONATHAN STARKEY Royal Farms Citgo station in Fenwick Island posted gas prices starting at $2.59 per gallon. Average prices throughout Delaware hit a low of $2.56 per gallon on Wednesday morning.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina at this time last year, gas prices climbed to record highs across the country and locally. On Sept. 7, 2005, Delaware’s average reached a record of $3.23 for a gallon of regular unleaded gas.

This year’s situation could not be much different.

Because of low crude-oil prices caused by the end of the summer travel season, a relatively calm political situation worldwide, and an almost non-existent hurricane season as of yet, Delaware’s gas prices have dropped almost 50 cents in one month.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Drew Melson, a Millville volunteer firefighter who travels about 2,500 miles monthly in his Ford Explorer, selling fire equipment from Maine to Florida. “This is the cheapest I’ve seen (gas prices) in six to eight months.”

Melson filled his Ford’s tank for just more than $50 at the Valero on Route 26 Wednesday, which offered a regular price of $2.53 per gallon. Delaware’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas dropped 3 cents over Tuesday night, to $2.56 on Wednesday, 3 cents below the national average.

Hocker’s Citgo in Millville offered the same $2.53 per regular gallon of gas on Wednesday as Valero. The Fenwick Royal Farms Citgo advertised a price of $2.59 Wednesday and the highest price locally, $2.61 at the Arby’s BP on Route 1 in Bethany, was comparatively not that high.

Just more than a month ago, that BP and Valero stations in Bethany sold regular unleaded for $3.07 a gallon, and at the Fenwick Citgo, the same gas went for $3.09. Delawareans, at that point, were flocking to Ocean City to get their gas, the Coastal Point reported on Aug. 18, where it sometimes cost about 25 cents cheaper per gallon.

“There’s not that much of a difference (now),” said Rhonda Frick, a Bishopville, Md. resident who filled her Ford Expedition’s tank in Fenwick on Wednesday. “Normally, there’s a 10 cent difference because of the additives.”

Government mandates require the use of environmentally-sensitive additives such as ethanol in gas throughout Delaware — but not on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The extra cost associated with the additives was said to be the difference between Delaware and Maryland gas prices locally. But, as Frick pointed out, there is little, if any, difference now. At some places, Delaware stations even offer cheaper prices.

The 7/11 Citgo on 139th Street in Ocean City — which offered a price more than 20 cents less than that found in Fenwick on Aug. 14 — sold regular unleaded for $2.57 on Wednesday. The Exxon on Route 1 at 142nd Street sold its regular gas for $2.59 Wednesday, a price equal to that in Fenwick and 6 cents more expensive than at Hocker’s in Millville and at Valero in Bethany.

But as good as the situation seems to be, AAA spokeswoman Ela Voluck warned residents this week about getting too comfortable with the low prices. A hurricane or rising tensions worldwide could raise crude oil prices, which closed at $64 Tuesday after reaching as high as $78 in July. And if crude oil prices rise, gas prices would follow.

“AAA does caution motorists against adopting a false sense of security,” Voluck said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with prices”

But, although the energy market is unpredictable, the gas-price situation is currently positive and should remain that way barring any unforeseen event, she noted.

“We expect them to keep on falling as long as long as crude oil prices do,” Voluck said.