Gas prices have skyrocketed across the country, but Grand Forks region sits well below national average (2024)

GRAND FORKS — Americans have been taking hits at the pump recently as gas prices soar in the early months of 2022.

California has felt the brunt of it with gas prices averaging more than $5 per gallon, and splotches of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas have seen some of the lowest gas prices at just over $3 per gallon. While the Grand Forks is not at the very bottom of the spectrum, it has not had the same extreme spike in prices as other parts of the United States.

As of Thursday, March 31, the average price for a regular gallon of gas in Grand Forks is hovering at $3.89 at most locations, according to GasBuddy.com, which tracks gas prices across the United States. Devils Lake, Minnesota, averages about the same as Grand Forks, and Crookston, Minnesota, averages about $3.82 per gallon.

On the week of March 8, Grand Forks was nearly 50 cents under the national average for a gallon of regular gas, but the margin has shortened to about 34 cents as of Thursday, March 31.

So why aren’t gas prices as high in the region as other parts of the United States?

UND Professor of Economics and Finance David Flynn said part of the reason is local supply and demand conditions. Larger cities also often have special blends for gasoline due to emission concerns, which increases its price.

“Some of the most expensive gas in the country right now comes from California,” Flynn said. “They've got regulatory architecture that's heaped on top of that, as well as taxes that are put on top of that, and so when you're looking at some of these things, you're seeing the impact of state and local type regulation on their fuel markets as well, and we have relatively little of that certainly compared to somewhere like a California.”

Another factor in Grand Forks’ relatively low gas prices could be its proximity to The Bakken, right? Not exactly.

“If you look, I think you'll find that in the top five or six states in terms of gas prices, Alaska is up there,” Flynn said. “So, it’s about things like refining capacity and other things. But I grew up in the city of Chicago, which is ringed with refineries. I actually was talking to family, and gas there is $4.50 or $5 a gallon right now for the mid-grade unleaded. So, again, there's a lot of different factors that go into play.”

Ending the United States’ foreign oil dependency has also been floated as a long-term solution, but not necessarily to the problem at hand. Flynn said the reason for the spike in gas prices stems largely from Russia invading Ukraine. While four in 10 Americans blame President Joe Biden for the national increase in gas prices, and Biden himself has blamed corporations, saying they are charging more at the pump despite a decrease in the price of oil per barrel , Flynn said it is not something the president can change by himself.

“I think it's largely being driven by those global events,” Flynn said. “I don't think the president has a particular set of tools that will allow him to influence prices one way or the other. In a larger scheme, and again, with a bigger timeframe,we can talk about the licensing of new wells and the variety of regulations, and interpretations of regulations, that could come from the executive branch, but from my assessment, it's not a significant amount of influence, necessarily.”

Another factor is not all oil is the same. North Dakota oil is not the same kind getting pumped out in Texas. Flynn said while pumping more oil in the region could be part of a solution in the long run, it won’t help the surge in prices happening right now.

“North Dakota oil needs more refining than other oil, and so that's a part of a longer term solution,” Flynn said. “But it's not like if we pump more barrels here, it could just immediately be sent somewhere for refining. It's a little different in that regard.”

As for what’s in the future, Flynn said he could see prices coming down and stabilizing a bit during mid-summer, but “information has a very short half-life right now.”

“I think it's just a lot of this is also consistent with speculation, right now, based on a lot of incomplete information, because we just don't know what's happening on a day to day basis,” Flynn said.