Rising Gas Prices Drive Motorists to Alter Habits : Mideast crisis: As tensions and oil prices increase, many are lining up for bargains at the pumps and buying less costly grades of fuel.

As the Mideast conflict continues to escalate, so have gasoline prices throughout Ventura County, where many motorists have begun modifying their driving and consumption habits to economize.

A random survey of 45 service stations countywide Friday found prices varying as much as 40 cents a gallon, a difference not lost on cost-conscious motorists who endured some lines at low-priced stations.

“Gas is gas,” said Anthony Flores, 27, a machine operator from Oxnard who was filling his pickup truck’s tank with $1.199 unleaded at Arco Camarillo, the lowest-priced unleaded seller among the surveyed stations. “I don’t care where I get it.”

Since Iraq invaded Kuwait Aug. 2, gasoline prices throughout Ventura County have jumped by 8 to 25 cents a gallon, depending on the brand and the individual station’s markup.

Arco stations continued to post some of the cheapest prices in the county Friday, but those margins may soon be eroded because Arco announced Thursday that it was ending its 2-week-old price freeze.

Other major oil companies continued to raise their prices, blaming the increase on the price of oil. Several grades of crude for October delivery were trading about $31 a barrel Friday, up from $23 a barrel before the Iraqi invasion.

Richard C. Chala, owner of Chala’s Texaco in Oxnard, said the company notified him at 4 p.m. Thursday that diesel prices were going up 2 cents a gallon. He received another call at 9 a.m. Friday informing him of an additional 3-cent-per-gallon increase for the same fuel.

“I don’t know how they’re getting away with it, but they are,” said Chala, a former president of the Ventura County Service Station Dealers Assn. “There’s no sense asking for an explanation, because they don’t give one and nobody’s trying to stop them.”

The per-gallon, self-serve prices at the stations surveyed Friday ranged from $1.1159 to $1.399 for regular, $1.199 to $1.409 for unleaded and $1.319 to $1.569 for premium unleaded. Full-serve prices were higher by at least 18 cents a gallon at all stations.

Many station owners reported a falloff in premium gasoline sales in the last week, as many motorists apparently are forsaking concerns about engine performance for dimes-on-the-dollar savings.

“Nobody’s buying supreme, they’re getting by on regular unleaded,” said Eric Burke, manager of Port Hueneme Bay Chevron, where premium sales have dropped more than 20%.

Many drivers also are forgoing the luxury of full-service pumps. That probably wasn’t surprising, considering the full-serve price at one Unocal station in Ventura was $1.869 per gallon of premium unleaded Friday.

Sam Harris, an attendant at George’s Exxon in Camarillo, said many motorists are curbing their fuel expenses by simply not buying as much.

“People aren’t filling up like they would otherwise be,” Harris said. “Now, they’re getting $5 or maybe $10.”

Several station owners in the Thousand Oaks area near the Ventura Freeway also reported a slight drop in sales, which they attributed to commuters possibly car-pooling more.