Prices falling at local gas pumps

Crude oil prices took a tumble Monday, and service stations in the Cape Girardeau promptly followed with lower prices at the pumps.

Crude oil futures slid $3.96, or 15 percent, to $22.01 a barrel. Oil prices have dropped more than 26 percent over the past week.

Motorists in the Cape Girardeau area could fill up their tanks at about $1.10 a gallon at Rhodes 101 Stops, Bi-State Oil Co. and a number of other stations Tuesday. Prices dipped to about $1.07 and $1.09 a gallon at some other stations.

"It's all back to wholesale prices," said Jim Maurer, general manager of Rhodes 101 Stops. "When wholesale prices drop, pump prices drop."

"The fuel industry is very competitive in this area," Maurer said. "We've seen a lot of new stations go up. Even with low inventories of oil, area prices could be much less that prices in the metropolitan St. Louis area."

Prices in the St. Louis area were still between $1.35 and $1.40 for regular unleaded, according to Michael Wright, a spokesman for AAA.

Oil prices are uncertain these days, with the U.S. battle against terrorism.

A lot of factors have to be considered if a shooting war emerges against Afghanistan, Wright said.

"It's hard to say what would happen with oil prices," said Wright. "Afghanistan is not a major player in oil production. It would all depend where Iran and Iraq put their ties. We didn't see any dramatic shift in the oil situation during Desert Storm, for any length of time."

With airlines cutting back flights, oil demand could diminish even more in next few days. The airline industry normally consumes about 1.8 million barrels of jet fuel a day.

rowen@ semissourian.com

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