The price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline jumped to within a fraction of a cent of $5 Tuesday, May 3, 2022, while diesel was at $5.89. The regular price tops the highest recorded price in Oregon.

WALLOWA COUNTY — Rising fuel prices have brought filling stations in Enterprise to within a fraction of a cent below $5 a gallon for regular unleaded, surpassing the highest-recorded average price in Oregon of $4.739.

That statewide high was posted on the American Automobile Association’s website March 11.

Locally, station owners aren’t quite sure why the price is so high.

The first station to jump to $4.99 was the Enterprise Chevron, with diesel No. 2 selling for $5.89 Tuesday, May 3.

Station owner David Burns declined to comment on the reason for the high price, other than to say, “Don’t you read the news?”

The Enterprise Texaco followed suit a couple days later, raising its regular prices a dime to $4.99 and diesel to $5.99. Both stations give a 10-cent discount for cash and another discount for fuel points gained at the local Safeway.

Texaco owner Tim Testerman also declined to comment on the reason for the high prices.

In Joseph, Paul’s Chevron was charging $4.69 for regular and $5.65 for diesel, according to co-owner William Castilleja. He said May 5 it was likely to go up again the next day.

“It’s been going up daily for a week,” he said.

Castilleja also didn’t know why the price is so high and speculated that the oil companies would blame supply and demand, which will increase the price come Memorial Day Weekend, the traditional start of the travel season.

Paul’s also sells ethanol-free premium, Castilleja said. It goes for $5.49 a gallon.

With no corn products in the premium, he said it’s preferred by some motorists.

“It burns more efficiently and it’s cleaner,” he said. “That’s why those with older equipment and smaller motors like motorcycles prefer to use it.”

The only other fuel outlet in the county, Goebel’s in Wallowa, was selling the same price for regular as in Joseph, $4.69 a gallon. Diesel there was $5.29.

Station owner Garrett Mahon said he, too, is unsure what’s driving the price increase.

“It all depends on what I get charged,” he said. “I had one time that jumped 60 cents (a gallon). I’d never seen that before.”

All Mahon said he can do is go with the flow and live at the mercy of the economy.

“That’s the way it goes,” he said. “Speculators, the world market and the way things are in the economy.”

According to a press release from AAA, the cost of crude oil continues to hover around $100 a barrel, keeping prices at the pump up.

The release blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for sparking fears of a global energy supply disruption, outweighing concerns of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China’s economy.

AAA said it now costs drivers in the U.S. about $23 more to fill up than it did a year ago.