Gas prices still dropping in Sidney

The price of gasoline is lower today than it has been in some time, and Sidney residents are benefiting from a bit of a "gas war" going on in town.

In fact, according to GasBuddy.com, the prices here are about the best you'll find anywhere in Nebraska.

Thrift's Gas and Liquor – located on Sidney Chase Drive just south of the I-80 overpass – has the lowest price in town as of Friday morning, charging $1.71 for a gallon of unleaded gas. Meanwhile, the Western Convenience store – located at the east end of Illinois Street – has unleaded gas at $1.72 per gallon.

Local consumers are reaping the benefits of these two competitors going toe to toe at the pumps..

"Our owner changes our prices," said Thrifty's manager Vicky Nightingale. "I bet it will probably go down even lower."

"It's just a competitive market here in Sidney," said Western Convenience manager Marvin Wright. "At Western, corporate changes the prices. It's hard to say how low these prices will go."

Customers are enjoying more money in their wallets after filling up as well.

"This is a convenient location," said Western Convenience customer Dale Meick. "I absolutely amazed at how low prices have dropped. The lowest price I've ever remembered was when I was a little kid and it was around 39 cents a gallon. When I first got my license, it was 59 or 60 cents a gallon."

Another customer agreed.

"I purchase gas here because I live near here and the price is great," said Thrifty's customer Ken Stute. "I'm amazed at how much the prices have dropped this month. The lowest I've ever remembered gas being was around 18 or 19 cents during the great gas wars back in the late 1950s. We just came back from Licoln and the cheapest I've seen gas was 2.12. In Lincoln, it was $2.42 Sidney's gas is the cheapest."

According to Gas Buddy, three stations in Chadron are offering gas at $1.70 per gallon – the lowerest statewide. But, Sidney is just a penny per gallon behind them.

There is much speculation about why the gas prices have dropped. Some say it's because of oil prices going down, others allude to the fracking going on in the United States, forcing less dependence upon foreign oil companies or maybe President Obama followed through on one of his pre-election promises.

Oil prices have drastically dropped in the past year. The prices at the pumps were close to $4 per gallon during that time.

For a good chunk of the past decade, oil prices were relatively high. The prices were bouncing around $100 per barrel since 2010. Because of soaring oil consumption in countries such as China and steady conflicts in key oil nations like Libya. The Oil supply was much higher than the demand and oil ultimately couldn't keep up with demand, so in turn prices spiked. Now oil looms around $59 per barrel.