BRISTOL, Va. – Seeing is believing, especially when it comes to regular unleaded gas dropping below the $3-per-gallon mark.
With that in mind, the $2.99 on the signboard at the Exxon in the Exit 5 area of Interstate 81 created plenty of believers Thursday afternoon.
Zach Warren, of Abingdon, Va., spotted the price sign as he zoomed along I-81. Sure, he’d heard the expert predictions that declining prices were on the way, but Warren thought such blessings were at least a month away.
“I started calling everybody I knew,” Warren said as his pickup’s tank guzzled the low-price octane.
The city’s newfound fortune was among the state’s lowest prices, according to online fuel watchdog VirginiaGasPrices.com. A BP station nearly 167 miles away in Rocky Mount boasted Virginia’s best bargain of $2.89, however.
Even lower, according to TennesseeGasPrices.com, was the $2.77 listing of a La Follette, Tenn., gas station 141 miles away.
Attendants at the Bristol Exxon said gas hit $2.99 around 1 p.m., when it started attracting a steady stream of motorists at least through the evening rush. Most pumps had lines two cars deep.
Allen Johnson, of Mendota, Va., didn’t mind waiting for a turn at one of the pumps as long as the gas was cheaper than in past weeks.
“I didn’t think we’d see [prices below $3] again,” Johnson said while parked in line.
It was an unexpectedly quick drop from the $3.48 average that Bristol experienced Wednesday. That price was a 20 cent drop from the previous week.
Inflated gas prices have plagued the Southeast ever since Gulf Coast refineries temporarily shut down and braced for Hurricane Gustav, which hit Louisiana on Sept. 1.
Mother Nature’s chaos took prices to the $4 mark.
But plummeting global oil prices and a strengthened U.S. dollar have convinced industry experts that gas prices will continue to drop.
“The question is, how low will it go?” AAA East Tennessee spokesman Don Lindsey said Wednesday.
He’s not the only person questioning the future.
“I’m just waiting for that $1.50 mark, that’s what I’m hoping for,” Warren said with a grin.
mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549
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