It’s not hard to find drivers on the North Olympic Peninsula frustrated over the consistent rise in gas prices.
From Neah Bay to Port Townsend, prices continue to inch their way closer to $4 a gallon than they have since 2008, and motorists say they are watching it with concern.
“I’m a courier, so it affects my job,” said John Miller of Port Townsend, who was fueling up his 28-miles-per-gallon Toyota at Jamestown S’Klallam tribe’s Longhouse Marketplace and Deli in Blyn for $3.539 a gallon Friday.
“It means less profit.”
Pushed by unrest in Libya
Oil prices, pushed by unrest in Libya and the Middle East, rose past $104 a barrel to end the week at a 29-month high.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery gained $2.51 to settle at $104.42 per barrel in New York, the highest level since Sept. 26, 2008.
A gallon of regular gained another 4.4 cents overnight to a new national average of $3.471 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service.
Amarjit Seera said he has had to raise prices daily over the past two weeks at his 76 gas station in Port Angeles.
“One day, it went up 11 cents,” he said.
Seera was charging $3.659 for regular unleaded Saturday.
When his next gas delivery comes in early this week, Seera said, he wouldn’t be surprised if he had to increase prices by another 5 cents a gallon.
Seera said he thinks there is little reason for the upswing.
“I think they just use an excuse, any excuse,” he said.
Bill Barker, a Port Angeles contractor filling up Friday at the Longhouse station, said he has seen gas prices soar before and he accepts the fact he has to pay to drive to jobs.
Inside the store, Longhouse Manager Randy Lemon said he has noticed people’s spending habits are changing at the pumps.
“They are not being able to fill up,” he said.
The station gets sometimes three notices a day of gas price increases, Lemon said.
“I think most people understand our margins are so thin,” he said, adding that the gas pumps are operated not so much for profit but as an enticement to draw people inside the store.
Not only motorists are affected.
Rob Neely, who lives outside Port Townsend, said he lives off the electrical grid and uses generators for electricity.
“The high prices have made a real difference to me,” he said.
“Since gas has increased, I haven’t been able to afford it, so I’ve been using kerosene lamps to light my house.”
Bus business
Olympic Bus Lines, which runs shuttle buses from Port Angeles to Seattle, is also feeling the pinch, said owner Jack Heckman.
“It just eats into our profit is all,” he said.
“We’re not planning on doing any price increases or fuel tax surcharge.”
Cindy Kelly, who lives in the Dry Creek area west of Port Angeles, said she has to be more conscious about her trips into town.
“I kind of just . . . keep my trips down, make my trips more productive than I used to probably,” said Kelly, a Port Angeles School District board member.
Close eye on dollars
Port Townsend’s Natalia Guevara keeps a close eye on the dollars that keep rising on the Safeway gas station.
“I like to keep my tank full,” she said, “and I usually fill it when half-empty.
“With the price of gas going up so high and so fast, I fill up when it gets only a quarter empty.”
Port Townsend’s Peter Davis said he often uses cheaper transportation.
“My truck gets 18 to 20 miles per gallon, but I ride my motorcycle as much as I can,” Davis said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant contributed to this report.
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
