Gas prices continue to rise

Sophomore Tiffany Mathis and junior Alvinitra Person decided to travel Friday. When they left, Tallahassee’s gas averaged $2 a gallon.

When they returned Sunday, they were shocked by the change in gas prices.

“I remember riding past several gas stations before actually getting gas,” said Mathis, a 21-year-old native of Miami.

“I thought maybe if I kept riding the next one would be cheaper, but it wasn’t.”

The price of gas sky-rocketed 12 cents more this weekend and Mathis is not alone in her astonishment.

Person, a 21-year-old School of Business and Industry student from Miami, said she couldn’t believe that gas was so expensive, but she plans to adjust. Instead of going home between classes, she said she plans on staying on campus in efforts to save money.

“It’s frustrating, but there is really no one to blame,” said Person, who admitted that she will also be taking less road trips.

Eric Hamilton of the Florida Petroleum Council asserted that there is something that can carry at least partial blame for increasing gas prices. He said “political issues contribute to the instability in the cost of gas.” An example of these political issues is the war in the Middle East. Hamilton pointed out that because Iraq is a rather large oil producing country, the instability in it supply is one of the reasons for the rise in gas prices.

Many of Iraq’s oil exports have not been as sufficient in getting oil to the U.S. as they were in years prior because of “sabotage attacks” on major oil facilities, according to http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok.

According to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ issues such as the war in Iraq add to “risk premiums,” which adds to the cost of gas.

A risk premium is the rate that people who invest in the oil market require above the normal rate “to compensate for exposure to systematic risk.”

The MSNBC Web site said that one of the reasons for “the risk premium placed on oil prices was the market’s fear of a terror attack or some other political action that would disrupt the global oil supply chain and cause a real shortage.”

Attacks on major oil pipelines in Iraq are some of the things that hurt exports and place dents in the consumers of the U.S., according to the site.

Ned Hill, who is a manager at Northside BP, said that he hopes the price of gas does decrease because the increase of gas prices closes the profit margin for his business.

He commented that there are people in high places that control the price of gas, and sometimes they make unfair decisions.

“They say that it has something to do with crude oil,” Hill said. “But I say whoever is on top controls gas prices.”

Although, the price of gas is uncertain to many people, there may be hope for students. According to www.tallahasseegasprices.com/, USA Petro and McKenzie have the cheapest gas in Tallahassee.

Both service stations are located on North Monroe, and both are $2.05 a gallon.

Mathis said that she is not satisfied with the price at even the cheapest gas stations in Tallahassee because $2 a gallon is still too much for gas.

“My gas mileage is not good to the gallon, so that’s still very expensive for me,” said Mathis, who is a criminal justice student. “If we still have to pay $2 for gas, then I feel we might as well bring the troops home. What are they fighting for?”

Contact Danielle Moore at famuannews@hotmail.com.