Pump prices are surging in Colorado as a prolonged outage of the state’s sole oil refinery weighs on locals and ski vacationers, with costs likely to remain elevated until after the summer peak driving season.
The outage at Suncor Energy’s Commerce City refinery, which is responsible for 40% of the state’s fuel, has made supplies “extremely tight,” with some retailers facing temporary shortages on certain grades such as premium gasoline used to fuel luxury cars, said Grier Bailey, executive director of the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association.
Located outside of Denver, the facility will remain down until late in the first quarter after a fire forced it to shut at the end of last year. The outage has led to trucking delays and long lines at fuel terminals, distributor Mansfield Energy said.
Average retail prices in Colorado as of Friday (Jan. 13) stood at $3.249 a gallon, having jumped by more than 7 cents overnight, leading national gains, according to auto club AAA. Prices will stay high until the region transitions to cheaper winter-grade fuel in September, even if the refinery returns by March, Bailey said.
Gasoline prices are popping in neighboring Utah as well, where winter tourism is also central to the state’s economy. The Salt Lake City refinery is among the plants now sending more product to Colorado to fill the supply gap, according to Bailey.
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