Cheap gas Toledo Ohio

BY LAUREN LINDSTROM
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Gas prices at Valero and BP on Alexis Road in Toledo are among the lowest in the city, according to gasbuddy.com.
THE BLADE/LORI KING

Drivers could fill up their gas tanks for as little $1.589 per gallon in parts of West Toledo on Friday, leaving many to wonder: How low can prices go?

The cheapest gasoline in the city on Friday was in West Toledo, where at least five stations offered regular for $1.589, according to the price-tracking Web site gasbuddy.com, which provides the numbers for Toledo’s average gas price Friday evening, as reported by volunteer Gasbuddy spotters, was $1.816 — well below both the Ohio average of $1.938 and the national average of $2.227.

Toledo’s average Friday was down nearly 16 cents in a week, continuing a near-continuous decline that started in late summer and steepened after Thanksgiving.

Falling gasoline prices were welcome news for customers who lined up Friday to pay for their fuel at a Valero station at Lewis Avenue and Alexis Road.

“It’s about time; we need it, ” said Dustin Featzka of Bowling Green, who was among Valero customers taking advantage of prices lower than they have been in Toledo in about six years. To Mr. Featzka, it “felt like forever” since he’s seen prices this low.

Across the street at a Stop & Shop convenience store, Perrysburg resident Eddy Torres said the price drop has cut his fuel cost significantly. When he bought his Ford pickup in 2008, its first full fill-up cost him $135, he said, but on Friday, three-quarters of a tank cost $36.

“You don’t buy a truck to save money, ” he said, laughing. “But this helps.” He also noted a recent drive to Florida and back, during which he found prices closer to $2 in Georgia and Alabama.

Eddy Torres of Perrysburg fills his truck at Stop & Shop on Alexis Road in West Toledo. ‘You don’t buy a truck to save money, ’ he said, laughing. ‘But this helps.’

Patrick DeHaan, a senior analyst for Gasbuddy, said gasoline’s steady price drop stems from continuing price wars with members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a Middle East-centered cartel of nations that produces much of the world’s oil and sets prices for that supply.

OPEC’s pricing power has eroded because of increasing oil production in the United States, particularly from the Bakken Shale oil fields of North Dakota. Seven years ago, Mr. DeHaan said, the United States produced just 25 percent of the oil it consumed, but now that’s nearly half.

In late September, Saudi Arabia voluntarily dropped its oil price, with Iran and Iraq soon following. Those countries are willing to take losses in the short term in order to regain market share, Mr. DeHaan said.

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