Arizona motorists traveling for the Memorial Day weekend will see lower costs at the pumps as gas prices drop rapidly โ with Tucson-area prices plunging more than a quarter per gallon this week.
The statewide average gas price dropped 13 cents in a week to $4.51, while the national average rose about 3 cents in a week to $3.57 per gallon, according to AAA.
Tucsonโs average gas price dropped 27 cents this week to $4.38 per gallon on Friday.
Scottsdale had the stateโs highest average gas price at $5.05 per gallon, while the Sierra Vista-Douglas market had the lowest average gas price at $3.77 per gallon.
Nationally, increased demand at the start of the summer driving season is pushing prices higher, AAA says.
โBut the increase is mitigated by the low cost of oil, which is wobbling around in the low $70s per barrel. Pump prices could stabilize or fall once this long weekend is in the rearview mirror,โ AAA spokesman Andrew Gross said.
The story is a little different in Arizona, which has seen prices jump past the national average due to a combination of factors, including the changeover to cleaner, summer-blend gas in parts of Arizona, strong demand and a crimp in supply caused by prolonged maintenance outages at a refinery in New Mexico and another in El Paso, Texas.
Those refineries supply Arizona with gas that is cheaper than California gas piped into the Phoenix area.
The refinery in El Paso is back in production, helping prices in Arizona, particularly in Southern Arizona, AAA Arizona spokesman Julian Paredes said.
It is unclear when the refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, will go back online, with work there possibly extending into June, but its return will also help tamp down prices, Paredes said.
Meanwhile, gas prices in some rural communities remain much lower than Tucson, which has historically had among the lowest prices in the state.
Though the gap has narrowed, prices in markets including Sierra Vista, Benson, and Safford have been $1 or more lower than Tucson in the past month.
AAAโs Paredes said demand in those small markets is much lower than in a major metropolitan area like Tucson, and they are much closer to refineries.
โItโs quicker and more efficient for fuel to get to Benson or Sierra Vista and the stock of gas lasts longer in those areas, making it cheaper,โ Paredes said. โWe canโt make any major predictions, but Iโd wager that Pima Countyโs gas prices will more closely match the eastern counties in the coming weeks. Tucson is at the edge of those supply lines and takes longer to adjust because of its size.โ
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for the online gas-price tracking site GasBuddy, agreed that lower demand in the rural markets may help keep prices down as retailers donโt have to refill their tanks as quickly.
De Haan said the rural station retailers also could be trucking in cheaper gas from New Mexico, but that wonโt work for large markets like Tucson.
โA small area, you can dispatch a truck and take advantage of those pretty big (price) differences,โ De Haan said. โFor Tucson, weโre talking about a lot of trucks that would have to be making it into New Mexico or elsewhere.โ
The Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, a statewide trade association representing the petroleum marketing, convenience store and related industries, declined to comment on the recent gas-price trends.
Arizonaโs major metro areas also may be getting some more expensive gas blendstock, or base refined fuel, that complies with Californiaโs strict emissions standards.
In March, the state began allowing Arizona fuel distributors to use fuel that complies with the standard for California Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending, or CARBOB, as a base for finished gasoline.
Kevin Allen, associate director of the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures Services Division, said itโs possible some more costly California-certified gas blendstock may have made it into Arizona, noting that suppliers wouldnโt have to notify the state if they use cleaner-burning California blendstock.
Allen said Tucsonโs unusually high prices are more likely related to the loss of supply from the closed refineries in New Mexico and El Paso, while smaller markets may be getting cheaper gas trucked in.
While spikes in gas prices often prompt consumer complaints of price gouging by gas retailers and distributors, the state Attorney Generalโs Office says it has little power to stop price gouging under state law.
โAbsent evidence of fraud, collusion or other anticompetitive behavior, the Attorney Generalโs Office cannot take legal action against retailers who may legally charge what they think the market will bear,โ the agency says on its webpage about gas prices.
While prices within a geographic market move more or less together as companies move independently and interdependently, such โparallel pricingโ is not illegal, absent proof of collusion or an agreement to fix prices, the AG says.
In 2006, an investigation by then-Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard into steep increases in gas prices following Hurricane Katrina found sharply higher profit margins but no violations of state law.
With gas prices staying stubbornly high in Tucson and across Arizona, some small steps can add up to save you real money on your fuel bills.
