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Gas prices have been steadily dropping for the last two weeks. Missouri now has some of the cheapest gas in the nation.

Drivers creep into local gas stations these days.

They glance over their shoulders looking for signs of the store’s clerk lurking around the corner. They grab the pump handle and fill their tanks as quick as they can, before the large black numbers can change and dig deeper into their pocketbooks.

Gas prices may be down, but paranoia still reigns at the pump.

“I’m just waiting for it to go back up again,” Shannon Boeh said.

Her friend Kandy Pittman couldn’t quite fill up her tank on Tuesday but said she puts in just enough.

“I gotta count change still,” she said.

The price of unleaded gasoline in St. Joseph has been below $3 for more than a week, a trend customers are convinced won’t last.

Nationally, prices have slid 23 percent from the record average of $4.11 reached July 17, according to AAA.

“I keep thinking that I’ll drive by tomorrow and it’s back up to $3.80 or something,” said Elise Williams.

But Ron Leone, with the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said gas prices aren’t likely to increase so quickly.

“(Lower gas prices) won’t last forever but should last the next couple weeks,” he said.

He said that prices will stay volatile since supply and demand are so tightly matched.

Three things determine the price of gasoline, Mr. Leone said: the cost of crude oil, the cost of refining that crude oil and state and federal taxes.

“What we’re seeing is a decrease in crude prices and seeing those being reflected in the pump price as a result,” he said. “They go hand in hand.”

Oil traded for $78 per barrel on Tuesday, lower than this time last year. The market saw record highs in July at $147 per barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries may be at a breaking point with prices this low.

“OPEC controls supply, and if they want to start decreasing supply, well, that’s going to have an impact,” Mr. Leone said. “When you’re the only game in town and you control the product, you can impact the price.”

According to reports, Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq are taking a hit from the decrease in crude oil costs.

“If OPEC is unhappy, they can turn down the spigot to drive up prices,” Mr. Leone said. “It’s the economy that we’re in.”

Jennifer Hall can be reached at jennhall@npgco.com.