By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

Jesse Sweeney, of Diamond, isn’t complaining about gas prices that leave $20 to $25 a week in his pocket.

Sweeney was one of many area residents taking advantage this week of prices that fell below $1.90 a gallon. Prices hit $1.85 in Carthage.

When gas hit $3 a gallon, it cost Sweeney $60 each time he filled his truck. Current prices cost him $35 to $40 per tank.

“I didn’t think I’d live to see it,” he said of the lower prices.

Those prices brightened Gerald Koehn’s trip to see his ailing brother in Wichita, Kan. Koehn, a Mountain View resident who was filling up in Carthage, said the price drop saves him about $20 a tank.

“It’s been a really great deal,” Koehn said. “That’ll make you want to come back again.”

As a computer parts courier for D&D; Delivery in Springdale, Ark., Jerry Pierce said he spends $80 to $100 a day for gas. Lower prices translate into more money for the independent contractor.

“There awhile back, I never thought I’d see it below $2 (a gallon), and now this,” Pierce said.

Pierce said he was pleased to see $1.99 a gallon when he left Springdale on Monday morning. He said he filled up in Joplin for $1.92 a gallon and could hardly believe his eyes as he traveled through Carthage and saw $1.85. He said he doesn’t know why the price dropped so dramatically, and he doesn’t care. He just hopes it sticks around.

Other happy faces at the pumps said they don’t understand the fluctuation either.

“I think it’s fantastic, but it’s about time,” Sweeney said. “I never have understood why it costs so much. I’m 60 years old, and I remember when it was 19 cents a gallon. I don’t know why it costs so much more now.”

Larry Archer, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Energy Center, said fuel prices are affected by a number of factors. The latest drop is a result of more supply, less demand and a drop in the price of crude oil, he said.

Crude-oil prices fell to $53 a barrel recently, their lowest point since May 2005. The DNR is attributing the price drop to mild weather in December and a growing surplus.

Crude-oil prices account for about half the cost of making gasoline, according to the DNR. U.S. gasoline supplies improved last week by nearly 3.5 million barrels to 217 million barrels, increasing domestic inventories to 5.2 million barrels more than last year’s amount, the state reported.

Will they say low?

As for how long the low prices will last, Doug MacIntyre, senior oil analyst with the federal Energy Information Administration, said predicting oil prices is like predicting the weather: It’s not an exact science, and it is heavily influenced by fluctuating temperatures across the nation.

MacIntyre did say that because pump prices lag behind wholesale prices by at least two to three weeks, consumers can expect to continue paying low prices through the beginning of February regardless of what happens with crude-oil prices.

In areas such as the Midwest, MacIntyre doesn’t expect much more of a decrease, but he said he never uses absolutes when speaking about gas prices.

“We were surprised they’ve gotten as low as they have,” MacIntyre said of gas prices. “Others are saying they could go lower, but we don’t envision seeing that happening. On the other hand, there are so many parts of the country where it’s lower than what we expected. It wasn’t that long ago gas was under $1 a gallon. ... Never say never when it comes to gas prices.”

Blake Simmons, of Carthage, said he usually goes through $150 of gas a week hauling farm supplies around town. He said now that he doesn’t have to put as much green in his tank, he’ll go out to eat more.

Sweeney said he worries about the temporary nature of the price drop and the inevitability of growing costs for other products.

“I’ll probably just pay some other bills,” he said.

Melissa Dunson is the business writer for The Joplin Globe.





On the Net



Tired of driving around to find the lowest gas prices? You can search by city for the lowest prices in Missouri by visiting www.MissouriGasPrices.com.