Gasoline Gauges Rest on Full

A year after shortages, oil stock tanks are brimming

In Jackson Hole, Wyo., near the entrance to Grand Teton National Park, a major tourist attraction for vacationing motorists, a merchant glanced out the window last week and smiled. "Normally the Winnebagos would be bumper to bumper this time of year," she said. "But this year you can actually find a place to park."

So far 1980 has not become a summer rerun of 1979. Gone are the gas lines and also many of the gas-gulping trailers and campers once favored by vacationers. At Yellowstone National Park the number of visitors arriving by bus is up 32%, and those coming by bicycle, motorcycle and on foot have increased 117%.

The reason, of course, is the price of gasoline. Years of Government exhortations to conserve precious gasoline by switching to public transit, doubling up in car pools and even simply not driving did little to reduce fuel consumption. But expensive gas is having a stunning impact. The average national price for unleaded gasoline this summer is $1.26 per gal, a 39-c- increase over last year. Total gas consumption fell 7% in the first 6 1/2 months of this year, while imports of foreign oil declined a strong 13.6%. Oil-company reserves two weeks ago stood at an alltime high for the season. Energy experts say that gas should remain plentiful through the summer and that there will be ample fuel oil this fall.

The lower U.S. consumption of gasoline is even holding down prices a little, at least for the moment. According to some Department of Energy officials, only half of U.S. gas stations are now charging the maximum legal price. Since late May, Mobil, Atlantic Richfield, Gulf and others have shaved 1-c- to 3-c- off their prices. Though 1960s-style gas wars are unlikely, some price competition is occurring among stations in close proximity to one another.

This year's ample oil supplies, however, are uncomfortably reminiscent of the situation two years ago. In 1978 the major oil companies faced a temporary glut of crude, and they cut down their reserves to save on storage costs. But then the Iranian revolution quickly turned a winter of abundant energy into a summer of frightening shortages.

The Energy and Justice departments last week released separate reports that concluded that there was no conspiracy last year by the oil companies to create shortages and drive up prices. The Justice study determined that the service-station lines were due more than anything else to the Federal Government's allocation system, which rationed scarce gasoline among dealers. The program was a bureaucratic nightmare that gave too much gas to some stations and too little to others.

But despite brimming storage tanks, the oil companies are buying all the crude that they can, even at $32 per bbl. Said one Exxon official: "There's still a fear of being caught short if Iraq reduced production or Iran cut back more. We're going to fill every bucket." American oil reserves now amount to only a ten-week supply of imports at current consumption levels, and today's ocean of oil could evaporate like a mirage in the desert. qed

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