Mobil Oil Marianas on Beach Road in Garapan displays its new prices on Thursday.
MOBIL Oil Marianas on Thursday reduced its gasoline prices by 10 cents, and diesel price by 20 cents. Shell Marianas is expected to follow suit.
It has been more than a month since the last fuel price hike.
Following Mobil Oil’s 10-cent price reduction, a gallon of regular gas is now $5.36 and premium gas, $5.81 per gallon. Diesel price dropped 20 cents to $5.53 per gallon.
Tinian Fuel Services has yet to implement the price rollback. Its regular gas price as of Thursday afternoon remained $7.36 a gallon while its diesel price was $7.81 a gallon.
On Rota, Calvo Enterprises’ regular gas price was still $6.84 a gallon and diesel was unchanged at $10.17 a gallon.
According to a gasoline station staffer on Rota, they received on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, the notice of price reduction by 10 cents. However, their latest fuel supply arrived on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, so they cannot apply Thursday’s rollback to that delivery.
Their next supply will arrive next week Monday, and that will be the time they can implement the price rollback. The staffer said it always takes a while before they can sell all their fuel because on Rota, “business is too slow.”
Gerald Bautista, a restaurant service crewmember on Saipan, said a fuel price rollback is good for the people on island. He said everybody is struggling nowadays because the economy is not good. Almost everyone on island, he added, is experiencing work-hour cuts so a reduction in fuel cost is important.
Bautista said the fuel price rollback is good not only for people who drive cars but also “for the rest of us because fuel prices affect the prices of other essential commodities.”
“Oil is a part of people’s lives,” Bautista added.
Supply risks
According to Reuters, oil prices “fell in choppy trade on Thursday, and looked set to snap a two-session streak during which they gained about 3% due to growing supply risks amid simmering tensions in the Middle East.”
Reuters said Brent crude futures fell 25 cents, or 0.3%, at $78.08 a barrel by 0650 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 13 cents, or 0.3%, to $75.10.
“The potential for Middle East supply disruptions have caused volatility, with the killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah last week raising the possibility of retaliatory strikes by Iran against Israel,” Reuters said.
“However, supply has not been affected so far, although attacks on ships in the Red Sea have forced tankers to take longer routes,” Reuters continued.
It quoted ANZ Research as saying, “The market has been on edge as it awaits a response from Iran.”
