KINGMAN - The price of crude oil has dropped nearly 10 dollars over the past several weeks, but you wouldn't notice it in Mohave County, where gas prices have continued to rise slightly over the same period, and will likely remain where they are through the end of the year, according to AAA accounts.
The price for a gallon of regular unleaded at Kingman's roughly two dozen gas stations averaged $2.622 Wednesday morning, up slightly from late November's average of $2.619.
Prices ranged from station to station, with the Flying J Travel Plaza at 3300 E. Andy Devine Ave. boasting the city's lowest price at just $2.499 a gallon, while several gas stations on W. Beale Street tied for the most expensive gas at $2.799.
Gas prices elsewhere in Mohave County have also risen over the past month, with Lake Havasu City's average rising from $2.678 to $2.692. Bullhead City's average also rose, from $2.452 to $2.469 a gallon, though its gasoline prices continue to pace well behind its neighbors for reasons neither AAA nor individual gas station owners have been able to explain.
Elsewhere in the state, gas prices have been erratic, with some rising while others fell. The statewide average rose over the period, from $2.597 to $2.601, as well as in Tucson, where prices jumped from $2.445 to $2.486.
But elsewhere, in places like Flagstaff and Phoenix, prices dropped by a similar margin - Flagstaff motorists currently pay $2.712 for gas, while Phoenix pays $2.575, both down about two cents from late November.
Currently, Arizona sits in the middle of the pack nationwide, tacking closely to the national average of $2.594 per gallon.
Missouri continues to pay the least for gas, with an average of just $2.404 per gallon, while California maintains the highest prices in the continental U.S. at $2.912.
The good news, according to AAA spokeswoman Michelle Donati, is that while prices are not plummeting the way they did this time last year when gas cost nearly a dollar less than it does now, they are stabilizing after a year that saw sharp increases followed by frequent price shifts brought on by the staggering economy.
"Oil prices have been fairly volatile - one day it might shift up due to a positive economic report, the next day we might hear a negative report and the price of oil would drop," Donati said.
"But we've really seen prices stabilize over the last several weeks. All in all, we haven't seen any major shifts in one direction or another."
Donati noted that, like this time last year, supplies of oil remain ample while demand has yet to rebound from last year's sharp economic downturn.
She said the main reason gas is more than a dollar above where it was then is due primarily to refineries carefully rationing the amount of gasoline they are producing so as to avoid creating a supply glut which would once again plummet prices and cripple their bottom line.
"Refiners are keeping a much closer eye on supply and demand so that they don't lose their profits," Donati said.
"We aren't anticipating any major shift in the price of gasoline through the end of the year unless oil were to drop further than it is now, or conversely, start to rise again."
But she added that prices will likely bump up slightly over the next couple of weeks as motorists take to the road for the Christmas and New Year's holidays, even as the association expects Arizona holiday travel to drop 5.7 percent from last year's figures, bucking the national trend.
"Even though we anticipate a drop in travel, we still expect 90 percent of year-end travelers to go by motor vehicle, so there will be 1.8 million Arizona drivers on the roads between the Christmas and New Year holidays," Donati said.
"Based on that, we could see prices tighten up around then, but that wouldn't be an atypical shift compared to that of other holidays."
