MOBIL Oil Marianas on Wednesday raised its fuel prices on Saipan by 12 cents.
Mobil Oil Marianas on Beach Road in Garapan displays its fuel prices Wednesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
From $4.40 a gallon, the price of regular gas is now $4.52 a gallon.
Premium gas price went up to $4.97 a gallon from $4.85 a gallon while diesel remains $4.58 a gallon.
Shell Marianas had not changed its prices as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, but was expected to follow suit.
On Tinian, Phillip Mendiola-Long, the owner of Tinian Fuel Services Inc., said it will not increase its prices and will seek to make up the lost revenue from other sources.
“As a community member of Tinian and the owner and operator of Tinian Fuel Services, I felt it was important that we not pass on the increase to our people who are already suffering from the loss of our economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mendiola-Long said in a statement to Variety.
“It just felt wrong to do it. So I made the decision to work with our senior staff to find other ways to absorb the cost instead of passing on this fuel increase to our people,” he added.
He said the price of fuel on Tinian is already $6.21 a gallon.
“If we had elected to increase our price to follow Mobil’s price increase, the price on Tinian would’ve been $6.34. We felt that was too much to bear for our community,” Mendiola-Long said.
He reiterated that Tinian Fuel Services “will carry that burden and we will find creative ways to hopefully make up the difference.”
“Our community members can choose to support our efforts by choosing to eat at our Primo’s Diner located inside our fuel station,” he said. “Hopefully, the increased food sales can prevent future fuel price increases. Every bit helps and we promise to do our best to push the price of fuel under $6. With the help of the community, and their support of Primo’s diner, we can work together to make this happen.”
In Seattle, KOMO 4, an ABC-affiliated television station, reported that “gasoline prices spiraled upward again over the past week in Washington state and nationwide as demand for fuel nears pre-pandemic levels and production lags far behind….”
“As Americans turn optimistic on Covid-19 pandemic recovery, we’ve been seeing insatiable demand for gasoline, which continues to recover far faster than oil production,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told KOMO 4.
Nationally, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has risen for the 10th straight week, according to tracking site GasBuddy.
