Lawrenzo
Enthusiast
This article is on the FOX news website- sign of the the times, but it could spell trouble for enthusiasts if we can no longer find the high octane fuel anymore
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Ernesto Evangelista prefers to pump premium gas into his seven-month-old Nissan Titan, thinking it makes the truck run better.
But at a BP station just a few blocks from the sand of Miami Beach, the 33-year-old painter grabbed the handle for the regular, 87-octane gas to fill his tank on a recent Friday.
"Premium is just too expensive," he said. "Nobody can afford to fill up with premium anymore."
With rising fuel prices pushing the national average for premium to $4.48 a gallon — about 40 cents higher than regular — motorists like Evangelista are buying less of it, industry statistics show.
Demand for high-octane fuel is at its lowest in nearly a quarter of a century and is now primarily consumed by a core group of luxury vehicle owners — and even some of them are putting lower-grade fuel into their tanks to save money.
In 1997, high-octane garnered 16 percent of the nationwide fuel market share, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last month, premium had only 8 percent of the market. Last year, premium gasoline consumption fell to about 35.6 million gallons of gas per day, the lowest in 24 years, the agency said.
"We're down to the core, die-hard audience that believes they need 93," said Tom Kloza, publisher of the Oil Price Information Service, a New Jersey firm that provides petroleum pricing and news information.
Gas station owners say they are pumping so little premium that it can take three or four weeks to sell their high-octane inventory, as opposed to a couple of days for a delivery of regular gas
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Ernesto Evangelista prefers to pump premium gas into his seven-month-old Nissan Titan, thinking it makes the truck run better.
But at a BP station just a few blocks from the sand of Miami Beach, the 33-year-old painter grabbed the handle for the regular, 87-octane gas to fill his tank on a recent Friday.
"Premium is just too expensive," he said. "Nobody can afford to fill up with premium anymore."
With rising fuel prices pushing the national average for premium to $4.48 a gallon — about 40 cents higher than regular — motorists like Evangelista are buying less of it, industry statistics show.
Demand for high-octane fuel is at its lowest in nearly a quarter of a century and is now primarily consumed by a core group of luxury vehicle owners — and even some of them are putting lower-grade fuel into their tanks to save money.
In 1997, high-octane garnered 16 percent of the nationwide fuel market share, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last month, premium had only 8 percent of the market. Last year, premium gasoline consumption fell to about 35.6 million gallons of gas per day, the lowest in 24 years, the agency said.
"We're down to the core, die-hard audience that believes they need 93," said Tom Kloza, publisher of the Oil Price Information Service, a New Jersey firm that provides petroleum pricing and news information.
Gas station owners say they are pumping so little premium that it can take three or four weeks to sell their high-octane inventory, as opposed to a couple of days for a delivery of regular gas
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