Big Island Fuel Averages Drop

Gas prices on the Big Island continue to decline.

Fuel island-wide has seesawed back and forth in average costs over the past two months, but this week, we’re seeing a continuation of small, but steady, drops in averages across the island.

Big Island Now has crunched the averages using numbers from AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report and Gas Buddy Data to track Big Island Fuel prices.

In Hilo, fuel prices are seeing drops across the board, with the exception of premium fuel. On Monday, regular fuel prices were averaging $2.72, an additional four-cent decrease, continuing the momentum from last week. Mid-grade fuel dropped from $2.83 to $2.81, a two-cent decrease, while premium gasoline held onto its average from last week at $2.98.

Compared to one month ago, regular fuel and premium fuel averages are ten cents cheaper, while premium fuel is just six cents lower this week.

Average fuel prices, compared to the same time period in November 2014, are still down by more than one dollar. In 2014, regular fuel cost an average of $3.88, $1.16 more than its current average. Mid-grade fuel was $1.15 more at $3.96 and premium fuel was an average of $4.08, $1.10 more than its current cost.

Kailua-Kona fuel averages have seen similar trends to Hilo’s averages.

Big Island Now’s calculation of Gas Buddy data from Kailua-Kona shows that regular fuel was an average of $2.99 Tuesday, three cents less than what was reported last week and a total of six cents down from numbers two weeks ago. Mid-grade gasoline was an average of $3.10, a three-cent decrease compared to last week, and five cents cheaper than two weeks ago. Premium fuel joined in on the drops and saw an average fuel price of $3.18 Tuesday, a six cent average drop in two weeks.

In Honolulu, the average price of regular fuel was only lower than Hilo’s average by one cent. Kona’s regular fuel average was 28 cents more than Honolulu’s number. Oahu fuel buyers are paying $2.71 for fuel, an average that has held over the past week.

Diesel buyers in Hilo were paying an average of $4.14 on Tuesday, while Honolulu diesel buyers were paying $4.36.

The national average for regular fuel on Monday was $2.14, a seven-cent decrease compared to last week. The national average is 58 cents less than Hilo’s average this week and 85 cents less than Kailua-Kona’s prices.

“Terrorism and other geopolitical events always have the potential to bring havoc to Wall Street, but early signs suggest that financial market reactions are subdued,” Gregg Laskoski, GasBuddy’s senior petroleum analyst said Monday.

“That means Friday’s events are not likely to be what drives the direction of crude oil and market fundamentals can be expected to push retail gasoline prices lower in the U.S. We’re already seeing that as the national average today is 6 cents lower from a week ago and wholesale prices are also significantly lower,” he added.

Club member-only prices, such as Costco and HFN, are excluded from this analysis and its averages.