Local & State Headlines

Area gas prices at state high

• Gas prices in Albany are the highest of all Georgia’s metro areas.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — If you’re a motorist in Albany and you think prices are higher at the pump here than elsewhere in the state, it’s not just your imagination.

At $3.88 a gallon, gas prices in metro Albany on Monday averaged 13 cents a gallon higher than in Columbus, 10 cents higher than Valdosta and 7 cents higher than in Macon, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report.

The prices were highest inside Albany, where they ranged from $3.86 to $3.88 a gallon for regular at stations on Oglethorpe and Slappey boulevards.

Gas was a penny or two cheaper outside Albany city limits: $3.84 at Citgo in Leesburg, $3.84 at Flash Foods in Americus, $3.84 at Kangaroo in Dawson and $3.86 at Shiba Food Store in Sylvester.

As a motorist travels further from Albany, prices start falling — Love’s Travel Stop in Tifton advertised $3.65 for a gallon of regular Monday, as did Donalsonville’s Speed Track. Donalsonville Quik & Handy charged $3.69.

Station operators like Morris Leverett, who runs Leadfoot Petro in Leesburg, hear the complaints, but say gas prices are set by oil companies.

“It’s a difference in the market,” Leverett said. “When they call me, I change it. There’s nothing I can do about the gas prices.”

Statewide, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.82 Monday. A year ago, it was $2.77.

A spokesman for AAA said variations in gas prices may have to do with the amount of competition a station has — its proximity to other stations, interstate traffic stops or high-density areas.

Crude and wholesale prices that peaked June 1 but which haven’t been followed downhill by the national average price for gas also “suggests that retailers are capitalizing on this time that weren’t able to take advantage of it earlier in the year,” said Gregg Laskoski, AAA’s managing director of public relations.

AAA’s data, available at the Web site www.fuelgaugereport.com, is based on credit card transactions at the pump.

Officials with two petroleum products dealers in Albany — Hinton Oil Co. and Lanier Oil Co. — would not comment on fuel prices or why they were higher in metro Albany.

Chuck Darsey said Darsey Oil Co. has moved away from the retail gasoline business toward more oils and lubricants, but remarked about the “crazy” nature of the gasoline business lately.

“These are not normal times,” Darsey said. “I have never seen it as chaotic as it is. Any burp in the system creates havoc for everyone.”

The recent drop in the cost of a barrel of crude was triggered by the threatened start of offshore drilling, but it won’t last, he said.

“All (President Bush) had to say is crank the trucks up,” Darsey said. “But the major oil companies have gotten used to their excessive profits and they’re not going to leave it alone. ... It’s going to bounce back up.”

The best thing drivers can do is keep their vehicles properly lubricated, the filters clean and tires properly inflated to maximize fuel economy, he said.

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