tigerhonaker
10-05-2006, 10:37 PM
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News
Gas falls to $2 a gallon
in Texarkana:
Delighted consumers
hope drop continues
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 10:34 AM CDT
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/content/articles/2006/10/04/local_news/news/news01.jpg
Staff photo by Evan Lewis Mary Ann Speights of Maud, Texas, fills up her car Tuesday afternoon at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Texarkana, Texas. Speights took advantage of the 3-cent fuel card, making the price $2 a gallon.
By Brandy S. Chewning (bchewning@texarkanagazette.com)
Texarkana Gazette
Drivers around Texarkana and across the country are noticing a welcome sight when they fill up their tanks: Gas prices are going down.
The price of gasoline is hovering around $2 per gallon. However, fingers remain crossed as prices continue to teeter on that brink.
“It’s still too high,” said Nellie Fuller as she gassed up her tiny compact car Tuesday morning. “It is better. It was costing me over $30 to fill this little thing up. Now it’s closer to being affordable, but I still want to see it back under $2 (per gallon).”
Raymond Dewlane logs about 15 miles round trip each day driving to work in a truck with a 16-gallon fuel tank.
“It was costing me nearly $50 to fill up. I’m thrilled it’s cheaper,” he said.
For those who quickly learned how to save pennies with Wal-Mart fuel cards (3 cents off each gallon), Murphy USA’s gas was $2 per gallon. Relena Edmonds, manager of Murphy USA on Arkansas Boulevard, said the price drop is contrasted with a rise in business.
“People are pumping like crazy,” said Edmonds, who indicated a drop below the $2 mark is a possibility. Delivery drivers had told her throughout the day that gas in Shreveport was down to $1.97, and the wave could be headed this way.
“This is the lowest it’s been since last August,” she said, recalling that the price had been edging up before Hurricane Katrina hit, and “then it went crazy.”
It has taken this long for the prices to deflate and Murphy USA has been seeing a steady decrease.
“It’s stalled in the past 24 hours,” Edmonds said, adding she didn’t think the price had changed since Saturday. She said if there is another decline, which would be a dip below the $2 line for cardholders, it may come later in the week.
“It’s stalled in the past 24 hours,” Edmonds said, adding she didn’t think the price had changed since Saturday. She said if there is another decline, which would be a dip below the $2 line for cardholders, it may come later in the week.
“Our company likes to make changes on Fridays,” she said.
Even if that change doesn’t come, the current state is still a glorious swap from last summer when Edmonds said her station hit $2.95 per gallon.
At a glance, State Line Avenue was obviously the cheapest place to fill up Tuesday. Along with Murphy, Race Way had regular unleaded starting at $2.
Several other stations up and down State Line offered their gasoline in the $2.03 to $2.06 range, but the price rose on the Texas side, climbing to as high as $2.15 on Richmond Road.
Gasoline price watch Websites became all the rage when the pocketbooks cinched, with sites like GasBuddy.com and GasPriceWatch.com getting millions of hits per day. The sites are updated continually with a steady flow of information coming in from good patrons of the fuel pump, telling the world what they just paid to top off.
As of Tuesday, Arkansas had just cracked the top 10 on the latter Website, rated as the state with the 10th cheapest average gas prices. The state average is $2.12 per gallon for low-grade regular unleaded. The lowest average price in the country is in Missouri, which boasted $2.02 per gallon.
Oklahoma sits in 11th place, and Texas came in 17th with a state average of $2.16. The states still paying the most for gas are Hawaii, Alaska and Nevada.
The lowest Arkansas price was in Fort Smith at $1.95, and in Beaumont, Texas, it was $1.88. Both those locations were at Murphy stations that operate at Wal-Mart stores.
Oklahoma slides to the top of area affordability, with gas selling for $1.90 per gallon in Bartlesville.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the national average is still $2.31 but has dropped about 7 cents in the past week. The national cost has plummeted 62 cents from this time last year. Diesel has followed suit, declining 60 cents, but still averaging $2.55 per gallon.
Billy Philyaw, manager of Exxon on Texas Boulevard, has been in the gas business almost 35 years. Some time ago, gas prices were skyrocketing and threatening the $3 mark. Philyaw said he will buy into every conspiracy theory going around as to why the sudden change in price trend.
“I’ll go in with every one of them,” he said, referring to possibilities of the upcoming congressional mid-term elections and a newfound oil supply off the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Philyaw said he doesn’t expect prices in this area to dip below $2 a gallon, ever.
“I think it will level off around $2. If it stays around $2 a gallon, everyone should be very happy,” he said.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/articles/2006/10/04/local_news/news/news01.txt
News
Gas falls to $2 a gallon
in Texarkana:
Delighted consumers
hope drop continues
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 10:34 AM CDT
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/content/articles/2006/10/04/local_news/news/news01.jpg
Staff photo by Evan Lewis Mary Ann Speights of Maud, Texas, fills up her car Tuesday afternoon at Wal-Mart Supercenter in Texarkana, Texas. Speights took advantage of the 3-cent fuel card, making the price $2 a gallon.
By Brandy S. Chewning (bchewning@texarkanagazette.com)
Texarkana Gazette
Drivers around Texarkana and across the country are noticing a welcome sight when they fill up their tanks: Gas prices are going down.
The price of gasoline is hovering around $2 per gallon. However, fingers remain crossed as prices continue to teeter on that brink.
“It’s still too high,” said Nellie Fuller as she gassed up her tiny compact car Tuesday morning. “It is better. It was costing me over $30 to fill this little thing up. Now it’s closer to being affordable, but I still want to see it back under $2 (per gallon).”
Raymond Dewlane logs about 15 miles round trip each day driving to work in a truck with a 16-gallon fuel tank.
“It was costing me nearly $50 to fill up. I’m thrilled it’s cheaper,” he said.
For those who quickly learned how to save pennies with Wal-Mart fuel cards (3 cents off each gallon), Murphy USA’s gas was $2 per gallon. Relena Edmonds, manager of Murphy USA on Arkansas Boulevard, said the price drop is contrasted with a rise in business.
“People are pumping like crazy,” said Edmonds, who indicated a drop below the $2 mark is a possibility. Delivery drivers had told her throughout the day that gas in Shreveport was down to $1.97, and the wave could be headed this way.
“This is the lowest it’s been since last August,” she said, recalling that the price had been edging up before Hurricane Katrina hit, and “then it went crazy.”
It has taken this long for the prices to deflate and Murphy USA has been seeing a steady decrease.
“It’s stalled in the past 24 hours,” Edmonds said, adding she didn’t think the price had changed since Saturday. She said if there is another decline, which would be a dip below the $2 line for cardholders, it may come later in the week.
“It’s stalled in the past 24 hours,” Edmonds said, adding she didn’t think the price had changed since Saturday. She said if there is another decline, which would be a dip below the $2 line for cardholders, it may come later in the week.
“Our company likes to make changes on Fridays,” she said.
Even if that change doesn’t come, the current state is still a glorious swap from last summer when Edmonds said her station hit $2.95 per gallon.
At a glance, State Line Avenue was obviously the cheapest place to fill up Tuesday. Along with Murphy, Race Way had regular unleaded starting at $2.
Several other stations up and down State Line offered their gasoline in the $2.03 to $2.06 range, but the price rose on the Texas side, climbing to as high as $2.15 on Richmond Road.
Gasoline price watch Websites became all the rage when the pocketbooks cinched, with sites like GasBuddy.com and GasPriceWatch.com getting millions of hits per day. The sites are updated continually with a steady flow of information coming in from good patrons of the fuel pump, telling the world what they just paid to top off.
As of Tuesday, Arkansas had just cracked the top 10 on the latter Website, rated as the state with the 10th cheapest average gas prices. The state average is $2.12 per gallon for low-grade regular unleaded. The lowest average price in the country is in Missouri, which boasted $2.02 per gallon.
Oklahoma sits in 11th place, and Texas came in 17th with a state average of $2.16. The states still paying the most for gas are Hawaii, Alaska and Nevada.
The lowest Arkansas price was in Fort Smith at $1.95, and in Beaumont, Texas, it was $1.88. Both those locations were at Murphy stations that operate at Wal-Mart stores.
Oklahoma slides to the top of area affordability, with gas selling for $1.90 per gallon in Bartlesville.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the national average is still $2.31 but has dropped about 7 cents in the past week. The national cost has plummeted 62 cents from this time last year. Diesel has followed suit, declining 60 cents, but still averaging $2.55 per gallon.
Billy Philyaw, manager of Exxon on Texas Boulevard, has been in the gas business almost 35 years. Some time ago, gas prices were skyrocketing and threatening the $3 mark. Philyaw said he will buy into every conspiracy theory going around as to why the sudden change in price trend.
“I’ll go in with every one of them,” he said, referring to possibilities of the upcoming congressional mid-term elections and a newfound oil supply off the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Philyaw said he doesn’t expect prices in this area to dip below $2 a gallon, ever.
“I think it will level off around $2. If it stays around $2 a gallon, everyone should be very happy,” he said.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/articles/2006/10/04/local_news/news/news01.txt