LOW GAS PRICES: FUEL PRICES REASON FOR CHEER

Area motorists can be thankful for low gasoline prices this Thanksgiving.

Drivers at self-serve pumps filled their vehicles Wednesday for as little as 72.9 cents a gallon for unleaded gasoline at some stations in Jackson.

In Cape Girardeau, many of the stations sold gas Wednesday for 79.9 cents a gallon, with at least one station selling it for a penny less.

Nationwide, gas prices are at their lowest level since March 1992.

A dozen years ago, the price at the pumps dipped under 70 cents a gallon. In recent years, gasoline prices have regularly been more than $1 a gallon.

Statewide, unleaded gasoline is selling for 93 cents a gallon, on average, down 16 cents from a year ago.

Nationwide, gas is selling for an average of $1.05 a gallon, according to AAA-Missouri auto club.

In the Midwest, gas is selling for $1 a gallon. Only in the nation's Southeast region is gas selling for less, at 98 cents a gallon, on average. Prices are highest in the West, at $1.19 per gallon.

Mike Right, vice president of public affairs for the AAA-Missouri office in St. Louis, said the low gas prices are from a worldwide oil glut.

"That has triggered a reduction in crude oil prices," he said. A barrel of oil costs less than $12 a barrel today compared to more than $19 a year ago.

That, in turn, has driven down wholesale gasoline prices, which nationwide stood at slightly more than 31 cents a gallon earlier in the week. A year ago, the wholesale cost was about 60 cents a gallon, Right said.

Bob Blank, president of Bi-State Oil in Cape Girardeau, said the worldwide oil glut is partly due to Russia.

"Russia is just absolutely flooding the market. That is the only thing they have got to sell," said Blank who operates two service stations.

Blank said he keeps his gas prices in line with the competition.

The competition includes Rhodes 101 Stop service stations.

Jim Maurer is general manager for the company, which operates 16 service stations-convenience stores in Southeast Missouri.

Maurer said the price at the pump is driven by the cost of crude oil, supplier charges and the local competition.

Gas prices locally were lower Wednesday than in St. Louis where unleaded gasoline sold for 85 cents a gallon, on average..

Maurer said prices vary depending on retail competition in a given market. "Right now, Cape is below a lot of St. Louis stations."

Maurer said the price his company must pay for gasoline fluctuates daily. "It almost operates a little bit like the stock market," he said.

Maurer said the current prices at the pump are the lowest in years. "Consumers are happy and we are happy too," he said.

Both Maurer and Blank said their profit margins are slim.

Taxes and wholesale costs account for much of the price at the pumps, they said.

State and federal gas taxes account for 35 cents of the price on a gallon of fuel.

AAA's Right said transportation costs for delivering the fuel to stations adds another 1 to 3 cents to the cost.

When gasoline is selling for 73 cents a gallon, fuel taxes account for nearly half the cost, he said.