Monday, December 31, 2012

Gasoline prices set annual records - San Antonio Express

Gasoline prices took a bigger bite out of drivers' budgets in 2012, as the year's average price for regular unleaded rose to record levels nationally, in Texas and San Antonio, research by the Oil Price Information Service shows.

The nation's average price of $3.60 in 2012 rose from $3.51 for 2011, while Texas' yearly average jumped to $3.44 from $3.37 the year before.

In San Antonio, motorists paid a record $3.40 a gallon on average, up a nickel a gallon from 2011.

Prices have climbed significantly from 2000, when the national average was $1.50 a gallon and $1.36 a gallon in San Antonio.

“It's a dramatic change,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which in conjunction with Wright Express surveys prices for AAA.

While some drivers in San Antonio weren't aware of the cringe-inducing records, David Padilla, who commutes from Loop 1604 to his downtown business, said he's “definitely paid more attention to gas prices in general.

“Gas affects all our spending habits,” Padilla said. He and his wife aren't eating out as much, he added, and he's ditched his pickup for a more economical Volkswagen Jetta.

“I think about gas prices daily,” Padilla said.

Christina Hernandez, who was filling up at a downtown Valero station, said higher gas prices have meant she doesn't drive around as much, and when she does she tries to get all errands done in one trip.

And she's glad she's driving an economical Kia Forte. “I went to Corpus and it just took a half tank,” she said.

Gasoline prices rose in 2012 partly because of distribution problems â€" a result of a refinery fire in Torrance, Calif., and a pipeline rupture in Wisconsin, said Doug Shupe, AAA spokesman for Texas and New Mexico.

Unrest in the Middle East also pushed up crude oil prices during 2012, experts said.

Texas drivers were spared a bit of the pain, however. As recently as two weeks ago, Texas ranked in the Top 5 among states with the lowest average prices, Shupe said. But AAA's annual survey showed that South Carolina, Missouri and Mississippi ended up with the cheapest gas for 2012.

Proximity to the Gulf helped Texas.

“A lot of the states with the lowest prices are along the coast because it's less costly to get the fuel to those states,” Shupe said. “We also didn't see any major disruptions along the Gulf Coast this year, which is one reason we saw the lower prices here in Texas.”

OPIS' Kloza estimates that Americans spent about $479 billion on gasoline in 2012, a record high, and $8 billion more than the $471 billion spent on gas in 2011.

That occurred even as Americans drove less.

Demand is down to about 8.65 million barrels a day in 2012, OPIS estimates, from 8.75 million barrels a day that the U.S. Energy Information Administration said filled tanks in 2011.

“Demand is definitely lower,” Kloza said. “There are some behavioral changes going on. Part of it has to do with high unemployment, part of it from more people working from home. It's just the change in the nature of the workplace.”

Some relief from record gasoline prices may be on the way in 2013, analysts said, in part because Americans are driving less and because the nation's crude oil production is rising. Production is booming in domestic shale plays, including South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale.

As he gassed up his SUV Monday, Thomas Gonzalez said he hasn't been happy that gas prices have fluctuated this year, because “people's budgets get affected.”

But for now, he's pleased that San Antonio is getting a bit of a break. “Now, holiday prices are pretty good.”

vvaughan@express-news.net

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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