Baker County's average gasoline price on Tuesday, Dec. 20 was the highest among Oregon's 36 counties at $4.62 per gallon for regular unleaded.

Baker County had the second-highest average gasoline price among Oregon’s 36 counties as of Wednesday, Dec. 7.

According to the AAA auto club, Baker County’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded was $4.70.

Prices in Baker City ranged from $4.67 to $4.79, according to AAA’s fuel price finder website.

That site doesn’t include Black Distributing’s station on Broadway St., however, where the price Wednesday was $4.39.

The only Oregon county with a higher average Wednesday was Curry, in the southwest corner of the state, at $4.87. And Curry County’s average price dropped by 10 cents from the day before.

The lowest average price was in Benton County, which includes Corvallis, at $3.69 per gallon.

Marie Dodds, director of government and public affairs for AAA of Oregon/Idaho, said she hasn’t talked with any fuel stations in Baker County.

But she said it’s common for relatively small markets such as Baker County to lag behind statewide and national gas price trends — whether prices are dropping or rising — because stations don’t sell as much fuel as in counties with larger populations and thus don’t have to buy fuel from their suppliers as frequently.

As a result, Dodds said, when prices are falling across the state, stations in Baker County and other smaller counties tend to reduce prices more slowly because they’re still selling fuel they bought at the previous higher prices.

Megan Bennett, a partial owner at the Halfway Market and Mercantile, one of two fuel stations in Halfway, said Dodds is correct about how the comparatively low sales volumes in rural areas can cause prices to lag behind statewide and national trends.

Bennett said on Wednesday morning, Dec. 7, that she hadn’t bought gas from her supplier in about two weeks, and her price for a gallon of regular unleaded was $4.82.

Bennett said she expects to reduce her prices soon, when she buys fuel.

There are two gas stations in Halfway and one in Richland, about 11 miles to the west. Bennett said the two Halfway stations try to stay within a few cents of each other.

Many of Baker City’s stations are owned by corporations, including Sinclair and Jackson’s, and officials from those companies hadn’t returned phone calls by press time Wednesday.

Dodds acknowledged that the scenario she described doesn’t explain why Grant County, which has fewer than half as many residents as Baker County and is not on an interstate highway, had an average price Wednesday of $4.21 — 49 cents cheaper than Baker County’s average.

Dodds noted that Baker County’s average price has dropped by about 10 cents per gallon over the past month, compared with a statewide drop of 68 cents.

Oregon’s average price on Wednesday was $4.11, down a nickel from the day before. The national average was $3.35.

Oregon’s average is the fourth-highest in the lower 48 states, behind California, $4.66; Nevada, $4.39; and Washington, $4.23.

Idaho’s average price Wednesday was $3.90.

Two of Baker County’s neighboring counties, Union and Wallowa, were also among the top four in average prices.

Wallowa County has the third-highest price, at $4.64, and Union is fourth, at $4.61.

Other Eastern Oregon counties, including some that adjoin Baker County, had much lower prices, however.

Malheur County, which borders Baker to the south, had an average of $4.11 per gallon.

Umatilla County’s average was $4.13, and Morrow’s was $4.07.

The only other county east of the Cascades with an average price above $4.38 is Lake, where the average Wednesday was $4.39.