Gasoline Prices in County Have Fallen, Survey Shows : Consumers: Check of stations indicates motorists were paying less to fill up than they did before Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

Gasoline prices, which soared along with American anxiety over the Persian Gulf crisis, have fallen an average of about 30 cents in Ventura County since last fall.

An informal survey of area service stations showed Wednesday that motorists were paying less to fill up than they did before Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. The price of self-service regular has dropped below 90 cents a gallon at many stations, and most now charge less than $1 for self-service unleaded.

Camarillo Arco logged the lowest price, 84.9 cents for self-service regular. Don Gurke Unocal 76 in Oxnard charged $1.599 for full-service premium unleaded, the highest price found in the survey.

Self-service prices for unleaded, which accounts for more than 60% of gasoline sales nationally, ranged from 91.9 cents to $1.119. Prices in some grades varied from station to station by as much as 46 cents a gallon.

The oil and gasoline markets have mirrored the level of confidence that the outcome of the Gulf crisis would favor the United States, said oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the North Hollywood-based Lundberg Letter.

“Prices rose on a bubble of fear, and that bubble burst,” she said.

There were signs that consumers should take advantage of the low prices while they can, because the wildly fluctuating market may have bottomed out.

“Beginning in the East Coast last week and traveling west, we’ve seen signs that the decline was slowing, and prices may even rise,” Lundberg said. “It has not become a wholesale turnaround, but it could.”

Richard Chala, owner of Chala’s Texaco in Oxnard, said Texaco charged its dealers a penny more per gallon on Monday than on Sunday--the first increase since January.

Although increased production by Saudi Arabia and other nations ensured that the supply of crude remained fairly constant, oil prices soared immediately after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Gasoline prices followed, peaking Oct. 19 at a national average of $1.47 for all grades, Lundberg said.

Local motorists expressed relief that the high prices were short-lived.

“I have to drive 35 miles to work in Saugus every day,” Pat Bolan of Simi Valley said as he pumped gas into his Toyota truck at a Shell station. “It definitely makes a difference.”

But some consumers questioned whether the dramatic increases were ever justified.

“I think (oil companies) took advantage of the situation,” Deborah Puckett of Oxnard said as she filled up her Ford Thunderbird at a USA station in Ventura.

“They had no reason to raise the prices, none whatsoever,” said Chala, who complained that dealers were hurt badly by the hikes. “There was never a shortage. They saw a good opportunity to make some extra profit.”

Lundberg cautioned against blaming oil companies, whose prices change sharply with the cost of crude. Because oil is a popular commodity on the world’s futures markets, she said, the price can increase merely because traders expect it to, defying the laws of supply and demand.

Pump prices began a gradual but steady decline in early December, and started dropping sharply in late January, about a week after the allied bombardment of Iraq began. Lundberg said a driver backlash against high prices and people’s tendency to drive less in winter than in summer helped slash demand and accelerate the slide.

But she added that the trend has begun to reverse itself with the drop in prices. Motorists are buying more gasoline, she said, and some have returned to the more expensive premium grades that they abandoned last fall.

GAS PRICES

LOW HIGH Self-serve Leaded Regular $0.849 $1.049 Unleaded $0.919 $1.119 Premium Unleaded $1.029 $1.219 Full-serve Leaded Regular $0.999 $1.459 Unleaded $1.199 $1.519 Premium Unleaded $1.299 $1.599

Sources: Wednesday survey of 25 service stations in Ventura County