kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and KilleenBridge City gas price war bottoms out at $2.64 a gallon

Gas prices at one of the feuding fuel stations in Bridge City were so low Friday morning owners began to re-think their strategy to bring in customers.

Managers at the Conoco and Mobil Express Mart near Texas Ave. in Bridge City say they have been battling it out at the pump for weeks. Friday morning, prices got as low as $2.64 before they were raised again to $3.05 Friday afternoon.

Managers said Friday they would continue to lower gas prices by the penny to be the lowest price in Bridge City until their boss says to stop. But this afternoon, owners said prices had gone low enough.

Drivers lined the streets, some waiting nearly an hour hoping to fill up before the price war settled between the two stations.

"I'm putting all the money I have into gas," said one driver, Mindy Phillips.

Phillips drove from West Orange to take advantage of the prices that were dropping daily, even hourly, and she wasn't alone.

"The gas war that's going on, we haven't experienced this before, and we're just thankful for it," said Mark Victor.

Managers of the two Bridge City stations say prices started dropping drastically Thursday until they finally bottomed out Friday morning.

Just last week, Victor says filling up this 21 gallon tank would have cost about $80 dollars. Friday at $2.64 a gallon, it cost about $60.

That's why drivers say they're the ones winning in the showdown.

"We're all doing bad right now with the economy. So the gas going down is a great thing. It feeds back into the economy," said driver Larue Phillips.

The manager of the Conoco station says the owner started dropping prices a week ago to celebrate 20 years of owning the store. The owner of the Express Mart, Tri-Con, says they kept up with Conoco to keep customers coming in.

"It's nice to have it where you can afford it," said Mindy Phillips.

However, Tri-Con says the price competition was an anomaly, and they could not keep the competition up for too long because they were sacrificing too much profit.

The owners of the two stations tell us they were not covering their cost of the gas when prices were at $2.64 Friday despite the fact that customers have come from miles around to grab up fuel. Even at $3.05 a gallon, managers say customers are still lining up to take advantage of the price.