SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — Gasoline prices across Pacific bases will leap 15 to 17 cents per gallon on Saturday, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service said.
The increase is the biggest single price hike so far this year, AAFES pricing records for 2009 show.
The cost of gas at military bases in South Korea, mainland Japan, Okinawa and Guam has steadily crept up since January, despite a major one-time reduction of Japan prices three months ago, according to AAFES.
Drivers will now pay $2.19 per gallon for mid-grade unleaded in Japan and Okinawa, which is still below the U.S. national weekly average of $2.32, AAFES Services Field Advisor Kiyokazu Iwamoto reported in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.
Prices in South Korea and Guam will balloon to $2.33 and $2.42 for unleaded, which averaged $2.21 per gallon in the United States this week, AAFES and the U.S. Energy Information Center said.
AAFES updates the cost of gasoline each week, and those price schedules are also used by Navy Exchange gas stations.
The cost of gasoline reached an all-time high last summer after increases through the first half of 2008.
By July, Pacific drivers were paying more than $4 per gallon.
The increases resulted in a lot of grumbling among consumers, but the historic prices did not translate into much of a reduction in Pacific fuel use, AAFES sales records showed.
U.S. prices began to plummet in July and then bottomed out last fall as the global economic recession picked up momentum, according to historical pricing data from the Energy Information Center.
Prices in the Pacific also spiraled downward over about five months.
The cost of a gallon of gas on Pacific military installations is related to free-market prices in the U.S. but does not always follow domestic trends closely.
Japan and Okinawa gas is supplied through a Department of Defense contract that dictates steady per-gallon prices that are meant to soften quick changes in the market.
Meanwhile, Guam and South Korea gasoline is supplied through private contracts that are closely affected by regional and global prices.
