Gas prices have been at a low and many people are rejoicing.

Drivers on Thanksgiving this year paid the lowest prices on fuel since 2008, according to the American Automobile Association, a nonprofit network of motor clubs that tracks gas prices.

Experts predicted that the national average gas price would fall below $2 per gallon by Christmas, and it did.

The average on Monday, Dec. 21, was down to $1.998 per gallon, breaking the multi-year low of $2.03 reached in January 2015.

According to gasbuddy.com, the average price for gasoline in Michigan on Dec. 21, was only $1.825.

That means one could fill up a 15-gallon tank for just around $27.38.

The states with the lowest average gas prices, as of Dec. 21, were Oklahoma ($1.750), Missouri, ($1.770), Kansas ($1.772), South Carolina ($1.774), and Arkansas (1.780).

On the other side of the spectrum, the five states with the highest average prices were Hawaii ($2.764), California ($2.726), Nevada ($2.499), Washington ($2.424), and Alaska ($2.327).

An explanation for the current low prices could be the switch to winter-grade fuel.

Twice a year, the U.S. fuel supply changes.

Known as the seasonal gas transition, summer and winter gasolines are composed of different oxygenates, or fuel additives.

Summer-grade gasoline burns cleaner than winter-grade, which makes the winter-grade gasoline normally the cheaper of the two.

So this switch could just be why prices have been at an an all-time low.

Mr. Michael Whalen, economics teacher, said increased competition has also lowered gas prices.

“A natural reaction to a declining oil market is the layoff and slowdown of various sectors of the market that were once booming,” Whalen said. “The production of oil has become more and more efficient over the years, though. This allows more companies to survive more depressions in the cyclical oil market now than they could in the past.”

Prices also tend to fall in the winter because the demand for gasoline is lower.

Increasing gasoline inventories from a busy fall-maintenance season at oil refineries have outpaced the current demand  for gas, making it likely that prices will stay relatively low going into 2016, AAA said.

Michigan leads the states in the largest month-over-month drops in retail gas prices — the price going down 53 cents.

Others states with high drops were Wisconsin (down 44 cents), Indiana (down 37 cents), and Illinois (down 36 cents), according to AAA’s Dec. 7 fuel gauge report.

To top it off, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which provides one-third of global oil, decided to actually increase crude oil production levels, despite the already plummeting gas prices.

The United States relies on that imported crude oil, according to the Energy Administration, and more of it being produced could mean lower prices and less money going to gasoline retailers.

Whalen thinks this could be beneficial to people at the cost of gasoline retailers losing valuable profits.

“OPEC’s decision will most likely continue to have an impact on the market,” Whalen said. “There will still likely be variations in the price of gasoline at the pump due to the seasonal transitioning of the fuel types.”

The reason OPEC is increasing its productions is because it does not want to lose customers to competitors that are non-OPEC producers, like the United States, according to Aljazeera’s Counting the Cost.

All in all, gas prices are low and many people are enjoying it, like senior Kosta Zaravelis.

“Lower gas prices mean I don’t have to sacrifice as much money,” Zaravelis said, “and I am able to go more places without having to break the bank.”