Spring Break Travel Troubles: High Gas Prices Impact El Pasoans On Vacation
Spring Break. It’s that time of year students get to rest, relax and go on long-awaited, much-anticipated vacations. However, rising gas prices are presenting somewhat of a road black for some cash-strapped students.
UTEP student Dave McKenna is one of them. “I was going to try to drive over to my mother’s house in Phoenix but I had to put it off this week. I just can’t afford it because of the gas prices,” he said.
Rafael Mena, a UTEP exchange student from Brazil, said he’s not postponing his vacation to Las Vegas, but he’s getting a little help to cover the cost. “Me and my room mate, we’re gonna split the gas,” he said.
El Paso’s gas prices are actually slightly lower than the national average– $3.45 here compared to $3.53 nationwide. Still, drivers are paying up to 39 cents more now than they did a month ago.
UTEP’s Dr. Tom Fullerton explained it’s not a matter of supply. “Right now in March of 2011 gasoline inventories and oil inventories are both higher in the United States than they were 12 month ago,” Fullerton told ABC-7.
He said the spike in prices is a result of crude oil buyers feeling uneasy about the political turmoil in oil producing parts of the world.
“The fear over what could potentially materialize in the Middle East have driven prices upwards,” said Fullerton.
However, Fullerton said oil production hasn’t slowed down significantly since uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia started making headlines last month. Therefore, said Fullerton, “there’s no reason to anticipate that these price increases of the last few weeks are going to be permanent unless the political situation intensifies in several of those producing regions.”
In fact, prices may soon drop due to the disaster in the Pacific. Experts say demand for fuel will likely fall in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami, which could mean cheaper fuel prices in the U.S.
