FAIRBANKS -- The national average gasoline price has dropped to $2.66 per gallon for regular, and gas prices are dropping in Alaska as well, though not as quickly.
The national average price for a gallon is down by 75 cents since mid-September, according to AAA, while the drop in Anchorage has been closer to 43 cents.
AAA predicts that national gas prices are likely to dip to $2.50 before Christmas, but Alaska prices remain above $3, with the exception of one gas station in Chugiak that posted a $2.99 price Tuesday.
As what appears to be the first Alaska station to crack the $3 barrier, Alice Mae's Shoppers Cache and Laundry Center in Chugiak is following its usual practice, said one of the owners, Vern Foster.
"Whatever they sell it to me for, I sell it for a little more," he said.
In Anchorage, the average gasoline price has dropped to $3.31 for regular, down by 43 cents a gallon since mid-September, according to AAA. There are stations with prices that are lower by 10 cents or more in the state's largest city.
While prices in Anchorage and Fairbanks continue to decline, they remain 65 to 85 cents above the national average. The gap is closer to 85 cents to $1.05 when state taxes are excluded, as Alaska has the lowest state gas tax in the U.S.
The wholesale price of crude oil has dropped by more than $1 per gallon since summer. There are many factors other than the price per barrel that go into what customers pay at the pump for refined fuel, however, such as local competition or the lack of it, utilities, labor and when a station is resupplied.
"The gap in prices between Alaska and the Pacific Northwest vary from day to day and month to month," a spokesman for Tesoro said. "The size of the market can have an impact on the speed at which the prices adjust. The faster the turnover in inventory, the faster the new costs are reflected in the price."
Crude oil, he said, makes up just 63 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
A 2009 study said the lack of competition and high operating costs were key factors in the consistently higher prices of gasoline in Alaska. With the shutdown of the Flint Hills Refinery last spring, the only company making gasoline in Alaska is Tesoro, which produces it in Kenai and supplies much of the state.
The company ships gasoline to Fairbanks via the railroad, though it declines to say just how much gas, citing business reasons. Flint Hills remains in the fuel business as a terminal, bringing in gasoline from Kenai, among the products it sells to distributors.
AAA says the average fuel price in Anchorage is down 17 cents from a month ago. The Fairbanks average price Monday was $3.49, down 23 cents from a month ago. In Juneau, gas prices were reported at $3.72 for regular, down 8 cents in the past month.
A year ago, when the price of crude oil was about $1 a gallon more than it is today, gas prices in Anchorage were 20 cents higher per gallon than today, while prices were 14 cents higher in Fairbanks and 15 cents higher in Juneau.