The city of London, Kentucky, has become the first city in the U.S. to see its gasoline prices drop below $1 a gallon, The Houston Chronicle reports, as more people suspend their commutes and transition to working remotely because of the spread of COVID-19.
Nationwide, pumps are headed for prices not seen since the Great Recession. Retail gasoline is expected to average $1.99 a gallon in the next 72 hours and fall as low as $1.49 by mid-April, the lowest level in 16 years, according to Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a consumer website. The last time an individual gas station sold fuel for less than $1 was in 2016 in Iowa, according to the website.
A Chevron station in Delcambre, in Vermilion Parish, has the cheapest gasoline in Louisiana, according to GasBuddy, with prices at $1.37 per gallon. In Baton Rouge, gas stations are as low as $1.39 per gallon.
The downturn comes as much of the country is under containment orders in an effort to curb the virus that’s killed more than 15,000 people globally. Prices would fall even further, experts warn, if it weren’t for the food-delivery drivers and long-haul truckers who are in high demand now that more Americans are self-isolating.
“You almost can’t even give it away,” says Paul Bingham, head transportation economist at IHS Markit Ltd. “The price elasticity has totally changed. It’s full-on demand destruction.”
