The price of gasoline continued its post-solar-ecliptic climb in Central Oregon, adding from 1 to 4 cents at pumps from Madras to La Pine in the past week, according to AAA.

Prices typically climb a few cents ahead of Labor Day, but this year 35 million drivers may take to the roads for the three-day weekend. But the bump in prices at the pump that arrived with eclipse traffic around Aug. 21 is still taking its toll on motorists’ wallets, said Matthew Conde, a AAA spokesman for Oregon and Idaho.

“I think that’s exactly what’s happening,” he said Friday. “A one-two punch, the eclipse and now Labor Day. It created a longer runway for prices to take off.”

In Bend, the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular reached $2.89 Friday, up 4 cents from a week ago.

In Madras, gas was up a penny over last week, but the area average there had reached $2.96.

In La Pine, the average Friday stood at $2.91, up 4 cents, and the Redmond average was up 1 cent to $2.86.

Hurricane Harvey, which battered the Gulf Coast the better part of a week, did little to affect the price of gas in Oregon, according to AAA.

“Harvey isn’t causing significant increases in pump prices in Oregon since we don’t depend on the Gulf Coast for our gasoline,” wrote Marie Dodds AAA spokeswoman in Oregon and Idaho, in an email Wednesday.

Oregon receives its gasoline supply from refineries in British Columbia, Washington and California, a Canadian province and states unaffected by the storm. Nonetheless, Oregonians will pay about 46 cents more, or $2.84 a gallon, on average, than the national average, $2.38, according to AAA. The association ranked Oregon No. 5 on its weekly list of states with the most expensive gasoline prices.

Add a hurricane, solar eclipse and a national holiday to the equation and analyzing national trends in fuel prices becomes a complicated affair. One question: Will those travelers who road-tripped to the path of totality for the solar eclipse venture forth again for the Labor Day weekend?

“So many did travel for the eclipse that it’s hard to know if they’ll rally and travel for Labor Day,” Conde said.

In Central Oregon, wildfires generating blankets of smothering smoke, causing road closures, event cancellations and health advisories may have their own impact on travel volume and demand for gasoline.

“There are so many moving parts,” Conde said. “It’s a lot deeper than supply and demand.”

He said gasoline prices may stabilize in mid-September, after refineries in Texas and Louisiana are back online and demand levels off. Initial reports suggest those Gulf of Mexico refineries suffered less hurricane damage than previously thought, he said. The problem isn’t supply but distribution, Conde said.

Expect a typical, seasonal decline in fuel prices around Oct. 1, he said, as demand slackens and refineries switch to winter-grade gasoline, which is cheaper to make.

“That will keep prices down in a typical fall,” Conde said, “until the ramp-up we see in the holiday bump leading to Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, 
jditzler@bendbulletin.com