June 7, 2004 – Hovensa's spokesman said on Monday that the company's increases in gasoline prices to St. Croix customers of 19 cents per gallon for regular and 20.5 cents for premium last Friday are in line with recent increases on the mainland.
"Hovensa is sensitive to the financial impact that a large increase in the price of gasoline has on motorists on St. Croix," Alexander A. Moorhead, the company's vice president for government affairs and community relations, said in a release. "However, the company has no control over national and international developments that have resulted in a large increase in the price of gasoline across the nation during the last month."
On Friday, the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department, which imposed a price freeze on motor fuels effective April 1, gave St. Croix dealers permission to raise prices 20 cents a gallon for gasoline and seven cents a gallon for diesel fuel. (See "DLCA OKs Gas Hike of 20 Cents a Gallon on St. Croix".)
During May, according to Moorhead, gasoline prices on the mainland increased an average of 19.3 cents per gallon for regular and 19.6 cents a gallon for premium. The hikes were from $1.811 to $2.004 a gallon for regular, and from $1.985 to $2.181 for premium.
Since the start of 2004, he said, Hovensa has increase its rates by 51.5 cents a gallon for regular gas (from $.90 to $1.414) and by 55 cents a gallon for premium (from $.95 to $1.50). On the mainland, he said, the increases this year to date have been $.55 a gallon for regular gas and $.536 for premium.
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