åÇÐÊ åÈ ÛÏ By John M. Berry and Jane Seaberry  
ÐÊ Competition Is creeping back into f. the retail gasoline market as oil be-. comes easier 4o get around the world. fÛ÷ . Seryice stations In the Washington ? area and across the nation are staying | open ionger*hours and on weekends. ^ ri f WhileÛª^ gasoline .prices continue to ife | 'Climb, profit margins for both refiners ->? % and retailers are shrinking.</br></br>&. > In the first three months of this W year, gasoline use nationally dropped å¤?. more than 8 percent below the levels a year,earlier. As of the end of March, je ^gasoline.*; stocks were at near-record " levels, up more than 15 percent from 1979, v> according to the' American Petroleum Institute.</br></br>Thelbig inventories have prompted some refiners to begin to make more gasoline ^available to their dealers. And theÛ÷drop in use is pushing-service Station operators to stay open longer^ in an attempt to sell more gasoline now that they, have it to sell. In-fche process, some dealers have begun to trim their markups to boost sales.</br></br>In Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, experts say there has been an increase in the amount of gasoline : available to dealers while sales have dropped. They caution, however, that the relatively large inventories ÛÏWith conservation efforts and higher prices, too, some of the dealers who have been finding they have more gasoline to sell are finding they have to stay open longer hours to get rid of it,Û said James W. Heizer, executive director of the Virginia Gasoline</br></br>Vic Rasheed of the Greater Wash-, ington-MarylanS Service Station Association said that in January only about 10 percent of the stations in Maryland were open on Sundays compared to about 50 percent now.