With the average price of gas in Mississippi at $2.75 per gallon, drivers across the country are feeling the brunt of the rise via their pocketbooks.According to statistics from MississippiGasPrices.com, the average price of gas in the U.S. has been steadily increasing since early February.
The statistics for the gas prices in Mississippi also show a rapid increase, with gas starting out just under $2.05 in the first week of February and rising to the current price of $2.75.
Ben Blair, associate professor of economics and finace, said part of this trend is due to refineries switching from winter to summer blends. The blends have to do with emissions, he said.
“Refineries, as they switch from producing gas in the winter to the summer, have to shut down parts of their factories for maintenance and summer blends,” Blair said.
As those refineries come back online to be completely functional, the supply of gasoline will increase and prices should begin to decrease, he said.
Gas prices are also determined according to supply and demand; supply being the amount of gasoline available to consumers and demand being the consumers’ wants, Blair said.
When supply decreases or demand increases, prices increase. If supply increases or demand decreases, prices decrease.
Other events, such as hurricanes, can drive gas prices up, but those events are still related to supply and demand, Blair said.
“There are supply disruptions sometimes due to weather,” he said. “Katrina reduced the supply of gasoline and that drove the prices up.”
Blair said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls about 40 percent of the national output of crude oil.
OPEC has eleven exporting countries: Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
OPEC leaders convene regularly to discuss decreasing or increasing the output of supplies in order to make crude oil reach a target price, Blair said. This maximizes OPEC’s profit, he said.
“They have an impact on oil prices. They can drive prices up or drive prices down,” Blair said.
There are certain times when gasoline prices increase, he said.
Aside from the switch from winter to spring and summer to winter, prices also go up around holiday periods such as spring break.
Demand for gas at the end of March and early April of this year set a record, Blair said.
He also said gasoline prices increase during the summer due to a higher demand created by people traveling.
Blair said that in the Starkville area, rising gas prices could hurt local businesses and cause students to think twice about outside activities and trips.
“The more money [students] have to spend on gas, the less money they have to spend around the town,” Blair said.
While rising gas prices affect the economy and consumers’ spending habits, Blair said gas has to reach around $3 per gallon for consumers to start cutting back.
Express Shop #37 manager Lubertha Brown said the prices are causing customers to cut back.
“People aren’t going to spend the money they usually spend because they have to conserve for gas,” Brown said.
Sprint Mart team leader Vicki Robertson said gas prices have caused her customers to become disgruntled as well.
“The customers are talking about how outrageous the gas is getting,” Robertson said.
Adam Mohamed, manager of QuickPick BP, said he thinks gas may continue to rise until it hits $3 per gallon near the summer time.
He said he has noticed customers leaving the gas station after looking at the price.
“They pull up to the pump, see the price, pump 70 cents and leave. Some people, if they’re out of gas, will come pump $2 and then try to go looking for it cheaper somewhere else,” Mohamed said.
He said Hurricane Katrina sent gas prices soaring last year, but does not know why prices are rising this year.
Brown said the rising prices are hurting everyone.
“They complain about gas prices, but what can we do? We need gas,” Brown said.