BANGOR – Jamie Py has a message for everyone who buys petroleum products in Maine.

It’s not the local dealers. It’s the big oil corporations.

During an interview last week, Py, president of the Maine Oil Dealers Association, described the complex web of factors that influence the cost of gasoline and heating oil. Oil refining companies tightly match production with demand, he said, and because oil is a commodity, its price is subject to the spikes of a highly speculative market.

Rather than oil drilling and refining executives or speculators, however, gas station owners and employees frequently bear the brunt of consumers’ ire over skyrocketing costs, he said. They are the ones who have to post the retail prices in front of their businesses and directly interact with the buying public, he said.

“We don’t like high prices either,” Py said.

Consolidation in the national oil industry may have contributed to record profits for corporations, but those profits are not being shared with the small, independent convenience stores and gas stations that sell the fuel, he said.

“The retailer’s not making a ton of money,” he said. “They are making money, but they are doing it on coffee.”

Why prices may suddenly rise can be equally as mystifying to retailers as they are to consumers, according to Py.

“Heating oil prices moved up 10 cents in July,” he said, adding that such an off-season spike is virtually unheard of. “Somebody sneezes in Iraq, and the price goes up.”

Py said there was a more logical explanation for why gasoline prices rose again last week. Hurricanes Rita and Katrina may have come and gone without any more severe weather appearing on the horizon, but lingering concerns over how badly the storms may have damaged oil production infrastructure in the Gulf Coast pushed prices up another 10 cents, he said.

At the end of last week, prices for low-octane gas in Maine were averaging around $2.75 per gallon but were rising, according to online gas price listings. Directly after Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans on Aug. 29, prices in Maine shot up about 50 cents to more than $3 a gallon before they receded again.

Wholesale fuel prices rose even more sharply during the same period, according to Py, forcing many retailers to sell their fuel at prices far below what their next wholesale delivery was likely to cost.

According to the state Web site Maineenergyinfo.com, the average heating oil price in the state has fallen 5 cents since mid-September but, at $2.49 a gallon, it is still 37 cents higher than the average price in March and 79 cents higher than the average price a year ago.

Since prices have surged, state officials have been vocal about keeping an eye out for possible price gouging by retailers, but so far no complaints have resulted in charges being filed by Maine prosecutors. In Missouri, a Springfield gas station has been criminally charged with price gouging and nine other retailers in the state have agreed to pay fines for the same offense, according to published reports.

Py said prices in Maine could be even higher if not for the access oil tanker ships have to the state’s ports. Many Midwestern states, which do not have the same port access and rely on pipeline supplies from the Gulf Coast, are having to deal with prices higher than those in Maine, he said.

Most refined oil products are brought to Maine by ships that dock in Portland’s harbor, but some are barged up the Penobscot River to Bangor and some come to far northern Maine overland from Montreal, Py said.

Dealers have to consider multiple factors when deciding what price to set for their gasoline, Py explained. Competition is the chief influence on this decision, he said, but they also have to think about how it will affect other aspects of their business.

Typically, some retailers have contracts to buy gasoline from one supplier such as Exxon or Citgo. Other retailers who don’t have such contracts buy fuel on the wholesale spot market. When supply is restricted, however, retailers without purchase contracts may have to pay significantly higher prices than those with purchase contracts, Py said. Even worse, they may not be able to find fuel on the wholesale market at all.

When supplies or refining capacities are restricted, often because of natural disasters or foreign power struggles, wholesalers sometimes implement allocation, a self-imposed practice that bars retailers from increasing the size or frequency of their wholesale deliveries, according to Py. With this market mechanism, retailers are prevented from hoarding fuel, which could result in shortages and even higher prices, he said.

If one dealer buys allocated fuel at a significantly lower price than a nearby competitor, it might not make sense to sell the fuel at a significantly cheaper price than what the competitor is charging, even if the fuel can be sold at a profit.

If the price is much lower, the dealer may run through their supply very quickly and have no fuel until they are allowed to buy again under their wholesaler’s allocation program, he said. If a retailer has no fuel to sell, customers may stop coming in and the more profitable side of the retailer’s business, be it a garage or a convenience store, could end up with significant financial losses.

The high amount and instability of heating fuel prices also concerns dealers, according to Py. If customers have a difficult time paying their heating oil bills, it will simply put more financial strain on the dealer’s business, he said.

“There are a lot of poor people in this state,” Py said.

Lowering your heating costs

While conservation is the most powerful tool in lowering energy costs, you can save on your home energy

bill by following a few tips.

1. Heating system tune-up?

Schedule a tune-up of your heating system once a year.

2. Keep the kitchen hot? Bake a lot. Keep the kitchen hot with breads, rolls, cakes, cookies, roasted chickens.

3. Skirt the foundation? Insulate your house by sealing off the exposed portion of your basement or foundation with plastic, leaves, bales of hay or even snow.

4. Wear a sweater? It?s cheaper for your body to do the heating than your furnace.

5. Drink hot drinks? Soup and hot drinks will warm you up.

6. Upgrade an old heating system? Replacing an old system with a new one is an investment that will pay for itself by cutting your fuel costs by as much as 40%.

7. Seal your windows, replace problem ones? Caulk around loose panes, add weather stripping between sashes and sills; consider window quilts.

8. Clear the way? Make sure that furniture and drapes are not blocking your baseboards.

9. Adjust your thermostat? Lower the setting at bedtime and when you?re not at home.

10. Make external doors weather-tight? Rubberized weather stripping will keep out the wind. Add a storm door.

11. Consider carpets? Carpet-ing and area rugs add a layer of insulation to floors.

14. Let the sun shine in? Southern exposure gives you

some passive solar.

15. Insulate? Walls, the attic and don?t forget the pipes.

16. Close closet doors? There?s 100 cubic feet you shouldn?t heat.

17. Draw the shades? Close your curtains at night to trap heat inside; open them during

the day to let heat from the sun in.

18. Thermostat savvy? Adjust your temperature setting by moving it just 2 degrees at a time. Or if you?re calling for heat, raise the setting slowly, and stop when you hear your furnace start.

19. Invite friends over? They?ll give off approximately 500 Btus every hour.