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North Carolina has most expensive gas in 48 states

Submitted by WWAY on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 4:33pm.READ MORE:

North Carolina has the most expensive gasoline in the continental United States. The state average for a gallon of unleaded is $3.79. Analysts blame disruptions in supply after Hurricane Ike. The good news is that prices in the Wilmington area are among the lowest in the state. The average price in our area is $3.53 per gallon. Even so, drivers Newschannel 3 spoke with said that is not a bargain. "It's insane. We have a lot to deal with now, especially with the economy being the way it is now. The gas prices just make it worse," said Wilmington resident T. Hodge. Remember, you can always find the cheapest gas prices in Wilmington by using our Gas Prices link on the homepage.

Disclaimer: Comments posted on this, or any story are opinions of those people posting them, and not the views or opinions of WWAY NewsChannel 3, its management or employees. You can view our comment policy here.

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gas prices in wilmington ,and nc

Submitted by dude (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 10:32pm.

were getting screwed

My problem with the gas

Submitted by WilmMan on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 1:09pm.

My problem with the gas price in NC is the NC tax placed on gasoline. There is no excuse for NC to tax gas as much as it does.

DOES IT SURPEISE YOU THAT

Submitted by SUSIE (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 10:26am.

DOES IT SURPEISE YOU THAT EVERYTHING IN NORTH CAROLINA IS MORE EXPENSIVE. EVERYHTING GOES UP IN NC EXCEPT PAY. I THINK INSTEAD OF THE HARDWORKING PEOPLE BAILING OUT ALL THE GREEDY COMPANIES I SAY LET THEM FAIL AND TAKE YOUR MONEY OUT OF THE STOCK MARKET AND THE BANKS BECAUSE OUR POLITICIANS ARE NOT WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE THEY ARE ALL PADDING THEIR POCKETS

Gas

Submitted by Joseph Bowden (not verified) on Mon, 05/10/2010 - 2:20pm.

You are correct, Politicians are padding their own pockets, think about what we the average person does not know about our elected officials. All elected oficals should be subjected to a drug test. Do you want someone representing you that is on drugs? No, you do not and I do not, but getting this law enacted is a problem.

Gas Prices and other generalities

Submitted by Joseph Bowden (not verified) on Mon, 05/10/2010 - 2:14pm.

It is ridiculous for us to have such high gas prices, people are wondering just how can we hurt the gas companies without hurting ourselves. Do not be surprised if something does happen! Kick out all incumbents from office. Really, clean house. Who do we have that is actually working for us?

Oil and the economy

Submitted by Guest1234 (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 9:36am.

I have read several comments about the economic surplus of the 1990's and how that was a direct reflection of policy and party. The surplus was created by an oil glut, cheap fuel period. Fuel is king of our economy and we are suffering now because of the high price of imported oil. The price we pay for expensive oil is the loss of economic stability and diminished stature in the world. As the price of gas goes up everything we buy goes up with it. The soulution for our economic woes lies in energy independence.

It is simply GREED........

Submitted by Guest461 (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 7:50am.

Price of a barrel of oil: $160.00, price at the pump $4.15. Price of the barrel drops to $88.00, price at the pump is still $3.55, diesel still hanging at $3.99. Not quite a linear scale there is it? This is an obvious ripoff of the American people! Greed is going to take this country down and ruin everything it ever stood for. This gas price situation on its own, disregarding the "Wall St", "Mortagage Industry", "Bank Bailout" or whoever the hell they're really bailing out has changed the very forefront of the average American family. It is absolutely amazing to watch the greedy hogs stuff their pockets with wealth at the expense of people just trying to keep their children fed and clothed. I hope they sleep good, eat well and get fat. Pigs get fed and Hogs get slaughtered! I can visualize the terrorists sitting back in their hash dens, chattering, snickering and cancelling their covert plans. They don't need them anymore, the insatiable greed of our own companies and government are doing it for them!

Gas Prices are unreal they should be at least 1.50 a gallon

Submitted by feisty63 on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 8:04pm.

Gas Prices are unreal they should be at least 1.50 a gallon. THE PRICE PER BARREL HAS DROPPED ALOT!!!! Did someone forget to tell the owners of the gas stations to lower the price. It like this if all the bill collectors want to be paid by people they need to speakup for us poor folks we don't have a 401k to back us up most are barely living to pay bills. they were talking about the middle class needs help well now the middles class has moved down a knotch they are now poor people. IF YOU ALL AGREE THEN POST YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT!!!! and believe it or not some don't have a checking account cause they is no money to put in it cause of gas prices and taxes on gas!!!

high gas prices

Submitted by dude 2 (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 10:36pm.

hang em off the sign ,let them hang .like in the old west ,boycott the stations.

I DON'T agree and I'll post my feelings about it

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 9:19pm.

Gasoline prices HAVE come down. Some places in town are selling it for less than $3.40 a gallon. Do not be so foolish as to thing that the price of oil is the only thing effecting the price of gas. It's the biggest influence, but certainly not the only one. The recent spikes were due to shortages that were effecting the Western part of the stake, and caused wholesale prices to climb across the entire state. Station owners are not going to drop prices while their cost is still high. A second factor is that refineries are now switching from Summer to Winter blends. That increases refinery costs, which increases wholesale costs to the distributor, which causes higher prices at the pump. Want cheaper gasoline? Write to your Senators and Congressman, telling them that having in excess of seventy-two separate regional and seasonal blends across the country (required by the EPA and state agencies) drives up the cost. You think that gasoline should sell for $1.50? Okay, considering that you get twenty-two gallons (+/-) of gasoline from a barrel of oil, and a barrel of oil closed at $88.95 today, how is the refinery supposed to pay for that barrel of oil? At $1.50 a gallon, the refinery would likely get a little over $1.00 a gallon for the gasoline. So let's say that gives them $25.00 Where is the other $63.00 coming from? You cannot get anywhere near that much for the other twenty gallons that will go into everything from plastics to asphalt to fertilizer. In all honesty, however, from your posting I suspect your problems are a lot bigger than expensive gasoline. Perhaps you should get that checkbook working before you tackle the economics of the oil industry.

Good point

Submitted by fozbot98 on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 11:53am.

Commonsense, I have seen your posts for a while and I do agree with you on this point. $1.50 a gallon is unreasonable seeing the current cost per barrel. Oil was around $50 a barrel when gas a $1.50. However, I do think the price at the pump should reflect the dramatic drop in price of crude. If it was $166 a barrel and over 4 at the pump, then the price at the pump should reflect that. I think that is what the other comment was getting at but I am not a mindreader. I would like to it under $3.00. At least show us something instead of the shaft. There is one thing maybe you can help me understand. This offshore drilling thing. I keep hearing it will take years for one drop of oil from those rigs to ever be refined into gasoline. Now, why is it when a hurricane hits the gulf and rigs shut down, why the spike in price. If it takes years for that oil be refined, why would a hurricane in 2008 affect fuel prices at all if it will be "years" before its gas. No one I have asked can explain that to me. I honestly dont understand that so I dont know whether to support the drilling or not. Are they talking about construction time and the drilling to refining or is it smoke and mirrors?

The ten year wait for oil

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 7:05pm.

It's certainly not refining alone. It's the whole process. First the individual states must approve the drilling. That alone could take a year or more, if it ever happens. Then, we have to find the oil. All projections are based upon geological evidence and subtle indicators. There has been very, VERY little exploration beyond pure scientific research. With the ban in place, no oil companies were spending any money looking, that's for sure! Once you have an accurate idea of where it is and how much you HOPE is there, you have to do exploratory drilling to get more accurate numbers and see if the find is economically viable. After ALL that happens, you have to determine what drilling techniques are best and how the oil will be brought to the mainland. Where will the hubs be located, based upon field distribution and density? Once you're ready to go, the whole support infrastructure must be put in place. You can't send men out to drill until you know how you're going to feed them and supply them with pipe, mud, grease, etc. All the shore-based contractors and facilities have to be lined up. Are you starting to see why it will take ten years...? BTW, the fifty mile exclusion zone may likely push it out even further. No one is gung ho to start burning up exploratory dollars out past fifty miles, when everyone thinks that the oil is going to be found far closer to shore...which means, it WON'T be found until the exclusion zone is reduced to a more reasonable limit. BTW, oil from the Gulf rigs is usually in a refinery within a few days to two weeks, and in your tank within the four to six weeks following, depending upon where you live.

Makes Sense

Submitted by fozbot98 on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 3:47am.

That makes a lot more sense to me now. Thanks. I'll have to go digging and see what else I can dig up to get more information about it.

Expensive Fuel/

Submitted by Loulu (not verified) on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 5:15pm.

The TAXES in North Carolina are the driving force behind OUR expensive fuel costs-AND the speculators driving up the costs..the oil companies' CEO's aren't hurting, are they? Why can't those taxes be cut, and our legislators AND Senators take a SALARY CUT, and actually work at their other jobs, instead of taking money from us? Now, that would be a change for the good!!Why do they get to vote in their own pay raises and we do ot get to vote on that? HMMMMMMMMM..NC has a HEAVY tax burden on it's citizens. It is SHAMEFUL when our leaders are millionaires and take more from us ---without even asking!

you hit the nail

Submitted by SurfCityTom on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 6:35am.

right on the head. Look to Raleigh when this topic comes up and look specifically at the Governor's Mansion. I believe North Carolina State Gasoline tax to be the highest or second highest in the continental US. Now there would be a good campaign topic. What would the 2 candidates for Governor propose to do to lower the state tax on gasoline?

gas tax

Submitted by Das Weibstück on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 10:44am.

Actually NC is 15th from the top, top being California, Conn and NY. We are just above the national average at 48.6.

gas tax problem

Submitted by Guest126 (not verified) on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 12:29pm.

THE PROBLEM IS HIGH TAX MIKE EASLEY. PEROID NO OTHER REASON. HIS AND HIS WIFE SALARIES SHOULD BE CHOPPED IN HALF, 190 THOUSAND FOR A RAISE LEAVE NC OUT OF YOUR MARRIAGE WOES AND KEEP YOUR GREEDY PAWS OFF OUR TAX MONEY AND FIX SOME ROADS.THEN DO US A FAVOR QUIT AND LEAVE NC FOREVER AND TAKE SAFFO WITH YOU!!!

NC most expensive gas price?

Submitted by new comer (not verified) on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 3:58pm.

we just moved here a few months ago from TN. a day after hurrican Ike, i talked to my mom back in tennessee and some of the gas stations there were charging $5.15 per gallon. now this was price gouging. the most i had to pay since Ike was $3.99 and that was just once. within a few days everyone had lowered their price. be glad we're not paying tennessee prices.

TN prices

Submitted by Jake (not verified) on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 9:01pm.

I am glad I'm not paying the prices in TN but I will not accept the lesser of two evils. gouging is gouging no matter what the degree.

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