With a drastic drop of more than 20 cents in the wholesale price of gasoline, the Office of Petroleum Management (OPM) is looking at the retail price at gas stations to be below $3 per gallon, which is good news for local motorists who have been paying high prices for more than a decade.

Samoa News archives show that the last time local gasoline prices were below $3 per gallon was in April 2006, when it was almost $2.90 per gallon. And as a teaser for motorists: at this time in 2001 — the start of the 21st Century — the local average at the pump was around $1.22 per gallon.

The new maximum allowable price (MAP) or wholesale price for all petroleum products sold in American Samoa went into effect yesterday with a 20 cent decrease in all products, according to data released by OPM.

For gasoline, the new MAP is nearly $2.35 per gallon, a decrease of 24 cents per gallon from the Dec. 31, 2014 MAP, said OMP, whose petroleum officer, Sione Kava pointed out that as of last Friday, the average at the pump was $3.04 per gallon for gasoline while an average for diesel was $3.28 per gallon.

“The price at the pump is not controlled by ASG. With the current trend at the pump we should see the cost per gallon going under $3 per gallon,” he said Friday afternoon when releasing the new MAP.

U.S. news media reports that the national gasoline average for the country is $2.03 per gallon as of yesterday, down from $2.06 last week , $2.32 last month, and $3.28 last year.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the price of oil hiked  7% on indication that production in the U.S. had slowed following the big drop in prices since last June.  As of yesterday, one barrel of oil stood at $47.71.

According to hawaiigasprices. com — which tracks daily gasoline prices for Hawai’i —  the average for the Aloha State is $3.12  per gallon but there were several gas stations on Oahu island selling between $2.71 and $2.87 as of yesterday morning.

Other petroleum prices in the territory all faced a decrease. For example, the 20 cent drop in the MAP for diesel — with road diesel at $2.61; boilers/generators $2.29 per gallon, commercial fishing vessel diesel at $2.12 per gallon and other marine diesel at nearly $2.29 per gallon, according to OPM data.

Jet fuel as well as kerosene (which is still being used by many Samoan families for kerosene stoves) had a 22 cent per gallon decrease in the new MAP — jet fuel at $2.58 and kerosene at $2.60 per gallon.

According to OPM there is a decrease of 24 cents per gallon for the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) for the road (which is used by several school buses and heavy equipment) and also used by boilers/generators. The eleven generators currently in use at the American Samoa Power Authority in Satala use the ULSD.

Kava explained that the big contributing factor for the continued drop in the MAP is that crude oil prices are below $50 a barrel—coupled with weak demand and a stronger dollar.

While American Samoa is benefiting from the latest drop in prices, it's not so fortunate for other Pacific island nations. American Samoa and South Pacific countries all get their oil products from refineries in Singapore.

“The unfortunate story from our sister islands in the region is that — because of timing —this drop in price comes later,  and when it comes to the decrease in crude price, which would normally translate to reduction in price at the pump, this is somewhat offset by depreciation of their currencies against the US dollar,” Kava explained.