KNWA Gas Price Investigation: Day 2

Day two in KNWA’s trip across the state to get some solid answers to the question, why gas prices in Northwest Arkansas are so much higher than other areas of the state took us to El Dorado. The company headquarters of the Murphy Oil Corporation is based in the city, and that’s where we went to try and speak to someone who could answer our viewers’ questions. Once we arrived we were told to wait in the lobby and soon someone would be able to talk to us. However, that conversation ended up taking place by phone…even though the person on the other end was in the same building that we were in. Not only would the man we spoke with not grant us an on camera interview, he wouldn’t even tell us what his title with the company was. The man answered our questions with some of the same answers that we’d already heard. Number one on the list, he told us that Northwest Arkansas is supplied by a different region of the country. Specifically, our area is supplied by a Midwest Provider called a “group provider”, while the rest of the state is supplied by Gulf Coast providers. When asked how switching to a Gulf Coast provider would affect prices in Northwest Arkansas, the man stayed silent for nearly fifteen seconds. He then told us too many factors go into pricing fuel and it was difficult to speculate on such a question. Once again we realized the answers we received in El Dorado weren’t going to satisfy us, so we headed east to West Memphis to continue our quest for solid answers.