Gas prices in Chattanooga jumped an average of 20.8 cents per gallon in the past week after the nation's biggest pipeline shut down following a leak in Alabama, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga.
Chattanooga's average price of regular gas at the pump on Sunday rose to $2.15 per gallon, its highest price in more than three months, GasBuddy said today.
Local gas prices still average 5 cents per gallon less than the U.S. average and some stations report selling gas in Chattanooga as low as $1.85 per gallon. But local prices rose far faster in the past week than most of the country.
Gas stations in Tennessee, Georgia and other Southeastern states have had to turn to truck delivery of fuel since the Colonial Pipeline shut down its main delivery artery last week after a pipeline spill was detected on Sept. 9. The company later acknowledged that between 252,000 gallons and 336,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from a pipeline near Helena, Ala.
Colonial Pipeline announced over the weekend it was beginning construction of a temporary pipeline that will bypass a leaking section of its main gasoline pipeline in Shelby County, Alabama. It said Saturday that the line was projected to restart the following week.
"While gasoline prices have drifted lower in parts of the country, it's impossible to ignore the elephant in the room: one of the largest gasoline pipelines in the country is out of service and a band-aid is not going to fix the problems in the Southeast as a result," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. "Since the shut down, which is entering its second week, gasoline deliveries have all but halted and inventories at local gasoline racks have quickly been depleting as panicked motorists fill their tanks, leading to gas price spikes, supply outages and headaches in six primary states: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia."
A number of Chattanooga gas stations has closed some of their gas pumps after they ran out of fuel this weekend. But most service stations continue to sell gas and most are getting truck deliveries of fuel.
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