MOBIL Oil has rolled back its fuel prices by 25 cents. Shell is expected to follow suit.
The Mobil Oil station on Beach Road in Garapan displays its new prices on Thursday.
From $6.41 a gallon after Tuesday’s 15-cent price reduction, the regular gas price at Mobil went down to $6.16 a gallon on Thursday.
The premium gas price dropped to $6.61 a gallon from $6.86 a gallon while diesel fell to $7.13 a gallon from $7.38 a gallon.
Tinian Fuel Services implemented the 15-cent rollback on Wednesday. Its regular gas price as of Thursday afternoon was $8.15 a gallon while the cost of diesel was $9.29 a gallon. According to the cashier, they were likely to implement the 25-cent rollback Friday.
On Rota, the regular gas price was still $8.04 a gallon while diesel costs $11.02 a gallon. A Calvo Enterprises cashier said they had not implemented the 15-cent and the 25-cent rollbacks as of Thursday because they were expecting their new supply to arrive on Friday.
The cashier said they would reduce their fuel prices by 40 cents on Saturday.
Shelby Pinaula, a private sector driver, said the 25-cent rollback was “okay,” but the gas price was still expensive because it was over $6 a gallon. He said he would be happy only if gas prices “go back” to just over $3.
Gas prices plunged at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when majority of economic and social activities were halted in efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
According to The Washington Post, “Oil prices soared this spring on fears that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to supply shortages and global disruptions. They continued to climb after the European Union moved to cut off Russian crude, as part of a sweeping array of sanctions to isolate President Vladimir Putin and punish his allies in Moscow and abroad.”
“But Tuesday,” the Post added, “oil prices fell sharply, moving below $100 a barrel for the first time since May…. If oil stays below $100, gasoline could fall as much as 40 to 60 cents, according to Patrick De Haan, chief of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.”
However, it will “take weeks for such a drop to be realized at the gas station and, even then, some other geopolitical event could send oil prices spiraling back up. More concerning to analysts is that oil prices are falling because of grim economic projections, serving as sort of a canary in the coal mine for declining economic activity across the board.”
