Hovensa raised its wholesale price for regular unleaded 14 cents per gallon Monday, the refinery said in a statement, ending three weeks of welcome declines, with prices still lower than two weeks ago.
The refinery increased regular unleaded from $2.93 to $3.07 and premium unleaded by 18 cents from $3.16 to $3.34, wiping out half of last week’s big drop of 32 cents per gallon for regular and 30 cents for premium.
Hovensa’s wholesale rate for regular declined 9 cents and premium by 13 cents the week prior, and a smaller amount the week before that.
Hovensa’s wholesale rate does not include local gasoline taxes of 7 cents per gallon or retailer markup. St. Croix retailers typically charge 40 to 50 cents above the wholesale rate, while retailers on St. Thomas typically charge roughly 50 cents more than St. Croix retailers.
Prices will not drop immediately at the pump as gas stations must first sell the gas they’ve already purchased at higher prices.
