Gas Prices Increase in Both Hilo and Kona

Fuel prices on the Big Island rose across the board this week. Last week, gasoline averages were scattered in both Hilo and Kona after going through the previous week with moderate increases.

Using numbers from AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, along with Gas Buddy Data, Big Island Now continues to track fuel prices on the Big Island.

Regular fuel in Hilo on Monday averaged $2.66, a three-cent increase from last Monday’s cost. Mid-grade fuel increased by a penny to $2.74 this week. Premium gasoline increased by four cents to $2.88 after dropping by a penny the week prior.

One month ago, regular fuel in Hilo was seven cents lower than its current average at $2.59. Mid-grade fuel has risen by four cents in the past month, up from $2.70, while premium fuel averages increased by nine cents from $2.79.

Hilo’s average fuel prices compared to the same week in 2015 remain down across the board in each category. At this point last year, regular fuel in Hilo cost $0.40 more at an average of $3.06. Mid-grade fuel also cost an average of $0.40 more at $3.14. Premium gas cost $0.35 more on average last year at $3.23.

Kailua-Kona averages grew this week, increasing the margins of early 2016, which were frozen.

Big Island Now’s calculation of Gas Buddy data from Kailua-Kona shows that regular fuel rose by two cents this week to $2.89, up from $2.87 reported last week. Mid-grade fuel also increased from $2.97 to $2.99 on Monday. Premium fuel rose by three cents to $3.09 on average from $3.06.

In Honolulu, the average price of regular fuel was $0.29 lower than in Hilo. The regular fuel average was also $0.52 lower in Honolulu than in Kailua-Kona. Honolulu fuel purchasers were paying an average of $2.37 on Monday, a decrease of five cents in the past week.

Diesel fuel in Hilo is averaging $4.13, a ten-cent increase compared to last week. Honolulu diesel buyers were paying an average of $3.97, a three-cent decrease on average compared to last week.

The national average for regular fuel on Monday was $2.13, a two-cent increase from last week. The national average is $0.53 less than Hilo’s average this week and $0.76 less than Kailua-Kona’s average price, the same difference in average as last week.

“The oil markets this past week shrugged off OPEC’s inability to reach an agreement for production freezes at the highly-touted meeting in Doha, Qatar,” said Will Speer, a Houston-based senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. “West Texas Intermediate crude futures responded to a brighter demand picture that perked prices up to $43.73 per barrel for Friday’s close.  Leading the demand surge has been gasoline, where the Energy Information Administration  shows year-to-date demand to be up 3.4 percent from last year and up 7.4 percent from 2014 according to their ‘product supplied’ demand indicator.

“Unsurprisingly, this has impacted retail gasoline prices, causing 43 of the 50 states to raise prices from a week ago.  Low prices have ignited the early demand surge this year, and the surge is expected to continue into the summer, where demand hits its peak for the year.”

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