Consumers will continue to see lowered prices at the pump.

The price of crude oil will average between $40 and $50 a barrel in 2016 and 2017 according to a release by the Short-Term Energy Outlook. Crude oil prices have been at its lowest its been since 2003.

“One of the major factors for prices is the new oil finds in the U.S. through fracking and offshore drilling and oil sands in the Dakotas. We have a large supply of oil,” said Philip A. Chamblee, executive director of the Mississippi Petroleum Marker and Convenience Store Association.

“We’re not as dependent as we were in the past. When you look at that, just like any other industry with a huge surplus of product, prices tend to fall,” Chamblee said.

Because of anti-trust laws, Chamblee was unable to comment on the pricing of oil.

Kenny Patel, owner of an Exxon gas station on U.S. 61 North in Vicksburg said the prices of oil are determined off of international factors such as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

“Drop in oil is always a benefit. People will get more and spend less money than three or four years back when gas was $4,” Patel said. “Now all they have to do is spend $1.66 and that benefits the customer’s pocket, getting more money to spend or more money to save.”

Patel buys his gas from Waring Oil Company in Vicksburg. The company owns a copious amount of gas stations in the city so prices might be similar throughout the city.

“We pretty much keep the same price as compared to the other gas stations besides Kangaroo by a couple of cents difference because they are generic gas, and we are branded,” Patel said.

The lowered prices of oil will entice drivers to travel more.

“People can go farther, and then they’ll still have some pocket money,” Patel said.

Vicksburg resident Michael Ainsworth is benefiting differently from the lowered prices.

As a former roustabout roughneck at an oil company, Ainsworth said the gas prices have allowed him to switch to a high quality of gas. His father told him in the late 1980s that crude oil would reach above $100 a barrel.

“I went from 87 to 93 and now since it’s going back down to 93 I have to reprogram my truck to use 93,” Ainsworth said. “With 87 no matter if that tank had kerosene in it they can put 87 back in that tank and it’ll still be too much kerosene in it. When you use 93, your oil looks a whole lot cleaner after 3,000 miles.”