Gasoline prices in Utah - and especially at service stations in Davis County - are among the cheapest in the nation right now.

But with gasoline tabs elsewhere on the rise, once again, experts caution that Utah's prices are unlikely to fall any lower - and may soon be on the way back up from the $1.71 per gallon recently recorded at a service station at Hill Air Force Base.

The Hill price was the lowest in the nation this week, according to GasPriceWatch.com, which tracks prices at 130,000 service stations nationwide. Hill's service stations are open only to active and reserve service members, but base spokesman Sean Carter said prices there are tied to the lowest in a survey of 16 stations outside the gate.

A similar regional site, utahgasprices.com, listed a Clearfield Maverik store selling for $1.72.

Kris Hampshire, who works at a Maverik station in Layton - $1.77 per gallon, as of Friday - said her customers have been quite happy in recent days.

"They've been commenting on it a lot," she said. "They're very pleased."

Gasoline glee is unusual in Utah.

"It's just not typical for us to be cheaper," said Rolayne Fairclough, spokeswoman for AAA of Utah. "We're usually higher than the average, so this is very unusual."

But welcome, with the winter hollidays approaching, she said, "especially when other costs are going up so much right now."

Industry insiders are perplexed by the prices.

"You stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the country right now," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. "Wholesale prices there are awfully low compared to the rest of the country."

Kloza said prices are typically cheapest in Kansas, Oklahoma and Georgia. But according to the service's latest report, the average wholesale costs in each of those locations were about 15 cents per gallon higher than in Salt Lake City.

"I guess it just must be one incredibly competitive market there," Kloza said, noting that his service would be studying the Utah prices next week.

John Hill, executive director for the Utah Petroleum Marketers & Retailers Association, said Kloza was likely correct. "The street price is definitely dictated by competition," he said.

But Hill also noted that the Salt Lake area, with five refineries, is "somewhat of an isolated market, and that could be contributing as well."

Like much of the nation, Utah is battling a cold front right now. But while many other places go to war against the winter with heating oil, most of Utah relies on natural gas.

That means refineries here can continue to churn out petrol while other refineries must split efforts between producing heating oil and regular gasoline, lessening supply, driving demand and pushing the price back up.

Hill said Utah's low prices are unlikely to last long. "Most indicators say we have hit the bottom," he said. "Don't expect $1.50 or $1.60 a gallon . . . this is as good as it will probably get through the winter."

mlaplante@sltrib.com