Gas Dips Below $3 Mark At Some Bristol Filling Stations
Earl Neikirk/Bristol Herald Courier.
Gas prices dropped below the $3 mark at this station just off Interstate 81’s Exit 7 in Bristol, Va., on Thursday.
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.
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Reader Reactions
tnamstaff, like i said thats just my opinion, but look at his family history, where did the Bush family wealth come from?Oil thats where, now ya tell me that an oil rich family dont know how and when to manipulate the oil market, one more thing,do some research and see whos family was visiting the Bush family in Texas on 9-11, They were flown outta the USA immediately by private jet, Check it out!!
Yea Gas prices fell only AFTER they raped us for so long! But hey, Thats what We the People are here for right! So Sad.
drill baby drill !!
it works
Tuxter, please explain to everyone how our President has the power to set oil prices..we are just dying to hear how he does that.
Great way for W Bush to attempt to help the Republicans try to scramble back into the election race!! Just my opinion, Tuxter
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