Oil Doesn`t Mean Lower Gas Prices | Video

Chris Williams | 1/22/2013

Gas prices dropped to just under $3.00 a gallon in some parts of North Dakota, at least temporarily. Even so, it`s still about 20 cents a gallon cheaper than right in the heart of oil country.

According to gasbuddy.com, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in North Dakota is $3.07, but just like most things the average price doesn`t apply in oil country. Gas prices in Bismarck and Fargo didn`t go down just for the sake of going down, there was a good reason for it.

"Bismarck did go into a little bit of a gas war here, and I think there was a desire to print $2.99 in Bismarck because it had occurred in Fargo, and it was lower than that," said Heartland Investor Eugene Graner.

The chances of gas stations in Williston going into a gas war aren`t very good. "You have demand that is always willing to exceed supply any given day, so there`s never a need to have a gas war. There`s always just a cost plus profit effect in your area," added Graner.

The Bakken does produce plenty of oil, but it all gets shipped elsewhere once it`s out of the ground, which also causes gas prices to rise. "You don`t have a refinery in your back yard, your fuel delivery has to be trucked in. You do get some fuel out of Montana as well, Billings large plant there from the Mandaree refinery, but it`s just the trucking problem," Graner added.

With the amount of oil the country is now producing, you might think gas prices would start dropping.

"Believe it or not, the number one export in the United States last year was not grain, it was gasoline and diesel fuel. That is being exported out of our country," added Graner

For now, drivers in Williston can only watch as their price for gas goes up.

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