The pump nozzle plunged into his car?s gas tank, and Raymond Griffith braced for the worst. The price began its climb.
“It?s breaking me,” Griffith, 46, of Baltimore, said, as he filled up his Chevrolet Malibu Friday at the Royal Farms in Hampden, where regular gas cost $3.79 a gallon. “It?s eating into your daily expenses. [My family is] really being careful with our spending, clipping coupons and things like that.”
When the gas stopped running, Griffith had filled his tank with 13.3 gallons of regular. The cost: $50.01.
With a 50-mile round-trip commute to his job in Laurel, Griffith too often has to endure the pricey pain at the pump.
“It?s really bad,” Griffith said before driving away.
FUELING THE PRICE JUMPS
Griffith is not alone in his pain. Across the Baltimore-metro area, drivers have watched with horror as gas prices have jumped almost daily, affecting budgets of both individuals and businesses on the most basic levels.
The price of a gallon of regular gas rose to $3.76 on Friday, according to AAA, up from $3.33 a month earlier. Nationwide, retail gas prices seta record high for the ninth straight day on Friday with a gallon of regular averaging $3.79. It was the 10th straight day of increases.
Oil and gas experts said the skyrocketing prices are fueled by several factors. Emerging markets in China and India haven?t quite reached the United States? overall level of gas consumption, but their year-over-year increase in use has, according to Daraius Irani, economist with the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University. Oil markets are also volatile with threats by Iran to cut oil production and with instability in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, he said.
Worse, U.S. domestic refining capability has yet to recover from damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. That storm damaged or destroyed Gulf-area refineries that Irani said were already struggling to meet the nation?s needs.
“The last refinery was built maybe 20 years ago, they?re working with older technology anyway and think about the demand that?s grown in 20 years,” Irani said. “The supply was not keeping up with demand. We just don?t have the refining capability anymore.”
Other experts placed the blame for fuel price spikes primarily on federal management of an economic slowdown that began in the residential housing market last summer.
The price of oil is measured in the U.S. dollar, and as the dollar has sunk, oil costs have risen.
“The price is not going up because people are driving more,” said Byron King, a fuel expert with Baltimore-based Agora Financial. “There are profound supply problems around the world, there?s demand from China and India. But no, the price is going up because the U.S. Federal Reserve is screwing up the value of the dollar. There?s just more and more dollars chasing the same number of barrels.”
A SILVER LINING?
At least one driver said rising gas prices might not be the worst thing to happen in the United States.
“Nobody likes to pay the price, but if this is what it takes to invest in alternative energy sources, then it might be worth it,” said Peter Pantaleo, a New York resident who was in Baltimore Friday to pick up his son, a sophomore at The Johns Hopkins University.
Pantaleo was filling up the tank of his Acura MD at the BP at Mount Royal Avenue and St. Paul Street in Baltimore, where regular was $3.89 a gallon.
Pantaleo?s cost for 13.7 gallons? $55.44.
“I?m probably in the minority,” Pantaleo said. “But I don?t like it because people are struggling, and it?s not good for this economy in general.”
Running on Empty
From small courier services to your own driveway, big increases in gasoline and diesel prices mean a big hit to the bottom line. This week, The Examiner looks at the soaring price of fuel and what it means for Baltimore-area motorists and businesses.
Today: What?s driving the giant increases in fuel?
Tuesday: How businesses are coping?
Wednesday: Transportation companies hit the hardest
Thursday: Individual consumers feel the pinch
Friday: Is $4 gas here to stay?
