Mobil Oil Marianas in Chalan Kiya displays its prices on Sunday.
AFTER a series of rollbacks since May, fuel prices went up on Saipan over the weekend.
Mobil Oil Marianas and Shell Marianas increased their fuel prices on Saturday and Sunday respectively by 10 cents.
The regular gasoline price on Saipan went up to $5.46 a gallon from $5.36 a gallon, the premium gas price to $5.91 a gallon from $5.81 a gallon, and diesel price to $5.73 a gallon from $5.63 a gallon.
Tinian Fuel Services had not raised its prices yet. Its regular gas price as of Sunday was $7.25 a gallon while diesel cost $8.10 a gallon.
On Rota, Calvo Enterprises also had not implemented the latest price hike. Its regular gas price was $6.74 a gallon and the diesel price was $10.07 a gallon.
Store employee Arnold Castro said he will have to pay more again for gas. He said he visits two store branches every week so when gas prices went down over the last two months, his gas expenses also went down to $30 a week from $50 a week.
Now that the price went up again, he will have to pay more for gas. If the price of fuel continues to rise, he said, his gas expenses will again go up to $50.
“It’s hard when you have to pay more for gas especially when you drive a lot every day,” Castro said.
Fears of war
CNBC reported on Thursday that “crude oil futures gained … as fears of war between Israel and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah overshadowed soft U.S. gasoline demand.”
CNBC added:
“Israel has deployed troops to its north … as attacks across the Lebanese border have surged from mid-May to mid-June, according to a Thursday note from RBC Capital Markets. The trendline seems to be pointing to a direct military confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel, according to RBC.
“ ‘Israel’s offshore gas operations could also be attacked by Hezbollah,’ wrote Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC, and her team in the note.
“ ‘However, the real threat to regional energy supplies would be if Iran targeted critical infrastructure to internationalize the cost of the conflict, or if Israel targeted Iranian energy facilities,’ the analysts said. …
“Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global, told CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ on Wednesday that Middle East tensions are hanging over the market. He cautioned that oil could spike again, pointing to the April rally when prices broke above $90 per barrel when Israel and Iran teetered on the brink of war.”
