“Gas prices below $2 a gallon will become more of a common sight in the Southeastern United States”, said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA Auto Club Group.

“With much of the country now on winter gasoline, there is less pressure on prices during the upcoming fall maintenance season at the nation’s refineries”. National averages are 4 cents lower than last week and 33 cents lower than last month. The price in Oklahoma City averaged $2.10 per gallon and stood at $2.04 per gallon in Tulsa.

South Carolina continues to boast the cheapest gas in the USA, AAA said. Local prices ranged mostly from $2.69 to $3.39 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.com, a price-tracking website.

Other seasonal factors are pushing pump prices down.

Drivers also typically hit the road less in winter months, so demand is lower, Montgomery added. “So let’s hope that doesn’t happen”.

The decreases follow a nine-day streak of increases totaling 72.1 cents that pushed the average price to its highest amount since May 12, 2014.

Overall, the average gas price of Longview $2.73, down seven cents compared to a week ago, AAA reported.

“We’ve just witnessed a consistent and, for some, surprising drop that has brought retail prices nationally to about $2.28 a gallon”, with about 25,000 instances of sites (gasoline stations) selling the fuel for less than $2 a gallon, said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service.