Published: October 11, 2008 01:31 am            

Cheap gas? Consumers see lower gas prices, finally

blivingston@themeridianstar.com



You could almost see a smile on some of those local residents stopping by choice gas pumps Friday afternoon.

Among them was Harold Spence, decked out in a Raider Pride T-shirt as he was on his way to a Lamar High School football game. He stopped at the Nixie gas station on 24th Avenue where the price stood Friday evening at $2.99 per gallon. If he'd traveled to the Super Wal-Mart on South Second Avenue he would have seen an even lower price — $2.91.

"I didn't think I'd ever see gas under three dollars a gallon," said Spence as he produced a broad grin. "But I'm sure glad to see it."

Oil hasn't been this cheap in 13 months — a rare silver lining for consumers amid a rapidly imploding financial landscape. Crude prices have almost been cut in half since surging to a record near $150 a barrel over the summer. Energy experts believe prices could go even lower.

"Honestly, I thought I'd see lower prices after Barack Obama got elected president," Ciara Ford said, sitting in her car waiting for her boyfriend to finish putting gas in her car. "It has been going down pretty steady. But still, it's nice to see."

The stunning collapse in oil markets accelerated Friday, sending a barrel of crude plunging below $78 as investors grow more pessimistic about resolving a mushrooming global economic crisis.

And all of this is because world markets have been plummeting as well.

Wall Street capped its worst week ever with a wild session Friday that saw the Dow Jones industrials rocket within a 1,000 point range before closing with a relatively mild loss and the Nasdaq composite index actually end with a modest advance. Investors were still agonizing over frozen credit markets, but seven days of massive losses made many stocks tempting for traders looking for bargains.

The Dow lost 128 points, giving the blue chips an eight-day loss of just under 2,400. The average had its worst week on record in both point and percentage terms, as did the Standard & Poor's 500 index, the indicator most watched by market professionals.

An unexpected benefit to many consumers, especially in Mississippi, has been the fall of gas prices helping some to at least feel somewhat easier about the overall landscape of the nation's economy.

"I thought the price would go down after the election so this is a little unexpected," said Teresa Love of Lauderdale.

According to mississippigasprices.com, the lowest price for a gallon of gas can be found in Ripley and at one location in Hattiesburg. In those locations motorists are seeing $2.67 per gallon for regular unleaded. The overall state average price for a gallon of gas is $3.13 while the national average is $3.26.

In the last 24 hours the price of gas in Mississippi dropped about seven cents.

        

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