Triple A, which calculates gasoline prices in all states on a daily basis, listed the average price of gas in Nebraska Monday at $3.10 a gallon, with $3.01 a gallon in Grand Island the lowest price in the 7 metropolitan areas it checks in the state.

That’s sky-high compared to Chadron, where a gas war at 4 convenience stores has prices down to $2.56 a gallon for cash and $2.58 with a credit card.

Corey Pourier…co-owner of Big Bat’s Shell, the station with the same price for cash or credit…says January has been a slow month, leading one of the others to start dropping prices to bring in customers and make up for the lost margin on in-store sales. The other stores have lowered their prices to stay competitive.

Pourier says the increased demand for gasoline has caused his company some problems. They normally purchase their gas from a wholesaler 90-miles away in Rapid City, SD, but that market’s been tight because of the sharply increase demand in the oil boom areas of North Dakota.

Pourier…whose father is the namesake founder of the company…says the closure for maintenance of the Wyoming Refiners plants in Cheyenne and Newcastle have also tightened supplies of gasoline.

As a result, Big Bat’s has had to scramble at times to get shipments, at least once going over 220 miles each way to a dealer in North Platte and paying 20-cents a gallon more than in Rapid City.  Pourier says it’s tough for the company to know where it’s going to get fuel and how much that gas is going to cost.

As for the Chadron gas war, Pourier has no idea when it will end. He’s just telling customers to enjoy it while they can.