Jackson County, Ore. — With crude oil as the basic ingredient in gasoline, AAA of Oregon says anytime there is an increase in crude, it tends to result in higher pump prices here at home.
“I already considered buying a bunch of gas cans and just filling them up… having them for storage,” Jade Stanford-Whightsil said.
As a gas attendant and a soon-to-be college student, Jade Stanford-Whightsil is concerned about a potential hike in gas prices.
She thinks it would affect her ability to come home and visit her family.
“Part-time job being a full-time student… it’s gonna be difficult to make all that money and save it,” Jade said.
Jade says she also hears a lot of concerns from her customers.
“Every single day they’re like… ‘I should’ve came yesterday… it was like ten cents cheaper!” Jade said.
Marie Dodds is the director of government and public affairs for AAA.
She says generally any increase in crude oil prices can be seen at the gas pumps two to three weeks later.
“Anytime we have any kind of unrest or geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, crude oil prices tend to move up because the concern is ‘wow, what happens if this unrest were to spread somewhere elsewhere in the Middle East’ which is still a major supplier of crude oil around the world,” Dodds said.
According to Dodds, the price of crude oil did go up Friday, but that doesn’t mean the trend will continue.
She also says consumers often see an increase at the pump in the spring due to a switch to more environmentally clean summer-blend fuels.
“In 2017 we’ll probably pay more for gas than we did in 2016 and 2015, but it’s not going to be a return to 2008 when all of us were paying well above four dollars a gallon,” Dodds said.
No matter what happens, Jade says she won’t let gas prices keep her from enjoying her big summer vacation – a trip to Disneyland.
“I’ll probably just use Uber and then fly down there instead of driving,” Jade said.
Dodds says AAA will keep a close eye on the Syria situation to see if anything will have a long-term affect.
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