BILLINGS — Montanans have seen the impact of a national decline in gas prices over the past two months, with many factors behind the drop.
“Anytime you can save money on fuel, it’s a good thing, especially when you travel a lot,” said Gillette, Wyo. resident, Bob Sizemore at Flying J’s Truck Stop in Lockwood on Sunday.
Sizemore travels quite a bit.
“We travel to see our kids and grandkids, so we go from Gillette to Manhattan, Montana and then from Gillette to Denver,” Sizemore said.
It’s why he was pleasantly surprised to see it was only $2.99 a gallon to fill up at Flying J’s.
“It’s a good thing,” said Sizemore.
“That’s actually cheaper than the national average, it’s not always like that,” said AAA spokesperson, Julian Paredes.
The national average is sitting at $3.15 as of Sunday. Paredes said there are several factors behind the decline.
“Fall is usually when gas prices go down everywhere, demand just really tapers off when summer travel season is over,” said Paredes.
Refineries also made the switch to a winter blend of gasoline that’s cheaper to produce.
However, gas prices won’t stay this low forever.
“Demand always picks up around spring and some refineries have to go down for maintenance around then too, so spring is the next guaranteed time that gas is going to go up again,” Paredes said.
For now, Sizemore’s thankful for those prices.
“When the prices are so high, that just means you need to cut someplace else,” said Sizemore.
It means Sizemore and his wife can travel to see their favorite people.
“Just spending time with the kids and the grandkids,” Sizemore said.
