Tonight, the pump price for a gallon of premium or regular gas is the lowest it’s been since, get this: July of 2003. As we told you it would, the price fell sharply last night, by over $3 a gallon, the largest single price drop on record. A gallon of premium is now only $7.41. That is down three dollars-plus from $10.44. Regular gas dropped to $7.05 a gallon which is a $3.06 decrease from the previous price of $10.11 per gallon. There was also a dramatic drop in the price of diesel which earlier this year topped ten dollars. It had decreased to $9.03 but today it dropped again, sharply – to $6.96. That’s a $2.07 decrease. Kerosene also decreased from $9.17 to $6.79.
The big drop is a reflection of the equally staggering plunge in world oil prices which only took, like a month to reach Belize. But when the ship finally reached port late last night, the price change was immediate, with government keeping to its commitment to pass on the full decrease in acquisition costs. We spoke to some drivers who were relieved about the pump price plunge.
Driver #1,
“I feel happy happy. I know the price went down on the market so it should have gone down here in Belize.”
Driver #2,
“Good because this will help us. I put in $50 right now and that is 7 gallons. Before I used to put in $50 and I only got 3 gallons so it is good and it will help a lot of people…a lot of us just waited for the price to go down.”
Driver #3,
“Just now I heard it that the price went down…it is good.”
Driver #4,
“We feel alright to know that the gas decreased and we are very happy. I hope it continues like that.”
Driver #5,
“It will help me a lot with the taxi fare.”
Driver #6,
“I think it is something that should have happened good while man. I feel very great because you come at the pump and you get more for your money so it is nice.”
Driver #7,
“It is very good. We had the victory last night with Obama and I hope the gas price stays this price for a long time.”
As we noted, this is the lowest pump prices for premium and regular have been since July of 2003. But, for comparison, we note that at that time the price of a barrel of oil was about $35 – this shipment is costed at a price per barrel almost twice that. And what does it all mean? Well, simply that in 2003, government was collecting twice the tax take at the pump.
So how long will these prices last and will they continue to go down? Well, we can’t say. Esso is notoriously Delphic about its loading and shipping schedule, but whenever the ship loads on the U.S. Gulf Coast, that’s the price we pay.
