For the first time since February, 2011, gasoline prices in Pearl
River County have dropped below $3 per gallon. It took gasoline prices one
year and 10 months to get back to where it once was. During that time it
peaked here during the Spring at $3.799 a gallon.
Local residents could not be more happy, because lower gas prices mean
they'll have more money in their pockets to buy Christmas gifts.
Beginning on Friday and continuing over the weekend gas prices per gallon
slid below the $3 per gallon mark. RaceTrac at Exit 4 on Interstate 59 in
South Picayune posted $2.989 over the weekend and Murphy Oil at Wal-Mart and
Bill's Quick Stop at East Canal and Mississippi Highway 43 South followed
suit.
Those three, on a regular basis, all at Exit 4 on I-59, consistently post
the lowest gas prices in Pearl River County. There are six gas stations
located at Exit 4.
Experts that keep track of the oil industry and prices said the glut in
supplies worldwide is the reason for the price declining right now. They
warned that as a commodity, sold on international markets, the price is
volatile and could go up as quickly, even more quickly than it drops.
The price per gallon at the pump is based on what refineries pay for a
barrel of oil, which contains 55 gallons.
The price recently hit figures above $100 a barrel, which usually pushes
gas prices at the pump above $3 per gallon.
Experts predicted in the Spring that gas would hit $5 per gallon during
the summer, and it did in California, but prices broke nationwide shortly
after the predictions were made, and prices fell to close to $3 per gallon,
and then during the fall gradually fell to the current $2.989.
In October of 2010, two years one month ago, gas was $2.589 at RaceTrac.
From there, however, it began a rise that continued until the Spring when it
topped out here at $3.799 a gallon.
During one period, from October, 2010, to February, 2012, gas prices here
jumped 22.6 percent a gallon.
The national average in December, 2010, according to The Associated
Press, was $2.958.
Currently, the national average price per gallon fell 9.2 cents over last
week to $3.248 a gallon this week. That's the lowest national average per
gallon price since December, 2011, said AAA.
The price per gallon has fallen 16 percent since mid-September, experts
said, and has fallen because of rising supplies of gas in the U.S.
This week, news reports said that Missouri posted the lowest price per
gallon in the country at $2.959, and Hawaii the highest at $3.979.
California continued to wrestle with high abnormal prices as gas prices
per gallon there jumped to above $5 per gallon in the Summer. Experts said a
refinery fire caused the spike in prices on the West Coast.
This week was the first week that prices in all 50 states were below $4 a
gallon, news reports said.
AAA reported that because of the dropping prices, more Americans were
traveling by car during the holiday season, up 1.3 percent over the same time
last year.
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