Portlanders still feel pain at the pump
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Gas prices across the Portland metro area are closing in on $6 a gallon.
Why it matters: The extreme price spikes analysts feared this spring — upward of $10 a gallon — haven't materialized, though the threat hasn't disappeared.
The latest: Portlanders are likely to see gas reach a $6 average if the latest surge in oil prices holds through the week, Ryan Cummings, an economist at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, tells Axios.
- But Cummings now thinks the prices he warned about this spring are unlikely before year's end.
- Demand has fallen more sharply than analysts expected as prices have risen, Cummings says, while China's massive prewar oil stockpile has reduced its need to compete for scarce barrels.
Yes, but: Cummings cautions that further disruptions could send prices higher.
- As long as the war continues, the worst-case scenario "is still on the table," he says, but it now appears less likely than it did at the beginning of the conflict.
By the numbers: In the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro area, regular gas averaged $5.18 a gallon Wednesday — up 35 cents from a month ago and nearly 73 cents from a year ago, per AAA.
- That's about 78 cents above the national average and only slightly higher than the state average.
Zoom out: The climb accelerated in recent weeks, with federal data showing a gallon of regular in West Coast states jumped from $4.82 on Aug. 10 to $5.23 by Sept. 14.
- Gas prices, on average, have never been this high this late in the year, said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis.
Between the lines: Dozens of Portlanders told us earlier this year that they decided to put off summer vacations and road trips due to surging gas prices.
Where to fill up: As of Wednesday, the GasBuddy app showed some of the Portland area's cheapest gas at Sinclair on Southeast 82nd ($4.79), Space Age on Southeast Division ($4.73), Costco on Northeast 138th ($4.89) and Arco on Southeast McLoughlin ($4.65).
- Sorry, west siders: All of the prices we saw were over $5.
The bottom line: $10 gas may be less likely, but the pain at the pump is still real.