The busiest job at North Olympic Peninsula minimarts and convenience stores with gas pumps this week is changing the signs as prices skyrocket toward $2 a gallon.
Industry officials expect the price for regular unleaded gasoline to hit $2 in Jefferson and Clallam counties by midweek.
Some drivers who use premium unleaded are already paying up to $2.09 a gallon, according to a random check of Peninsula stations.
Relief from the high prices probably won’t come before Labor Day weekend, which marks the end of summer before children head back to classrooms.
Some officials are blaming the price hikes on a shortage caused by an extended maintenance closure of the Shell refinery in Anacortes — as well as a decision by the federal government to replenish its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
But there is disagreement about the reason for the higher prices.
Former Port Angeles resident David Overstreet, who is now a spokesman for AAA, told the Bremerton Sun that refiners are intentionally keeping supplies low, thus pushing prices higher.
——————–
The rest of this story can be found in Sunday’s Peninsula Daily News.