Chattanooga gas prices continue to fall, dropping over $1.20 a gallon since June

Global oil markets push prices to lowest level since January

Photo by Dave Flessner / The price of regular gasoline has dropped to $3.13 a gallon at the Sam's Club on Lee Highway, which boasted the cheapest fuel in Chattanooga on Monday, according to GasBuddy.com
Photo by Dave Flessner / The price of regular gasoline has dropped to $3.13 a gallon at the Sam's Club on Lee Highway, which boasted the cheapest fuel in Chattanooga on Monday, according to GasBuddy.com

Chattanooga gas prices fell last week for the ninth consecutive week, dropping another 10.4 cents a gallon last week to the lowest level in nearly six months, according to GasBuddy's survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga.

Prices at the pump at Chattanooga gas stations have declined by more than $1.20 a gallon from the peak levels reached in June and a drop Monday in global crude oil prices could extend the price decline at the pump even more.

Oil prices fell to their lowest level in months on Monday amid reports that China's economy is faltering. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, dipped by more than 5% in trading Monday morning to fall below $88 per barrel - its lowest level since January. The New York Times reported that the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell by a similar amount, to below $94 a barrel, the lowest since March.

Ahead of Monday's drop in crude oil prices, the average price of regular gas in Chattanooga declined last week to $3.36 per gallon, which GasBuddy.com surveys said was 12 cents a gallon below the statewide average in Tennessee of $3.48 and 56 cents a gallon below the U.S. average of $3.92 a gallon.

Even with the recent drop in fuel prices, however, average gasoline prices in Chattanooga are still 22% higher than a year ago. Prices in Chattanooga stand 60.4 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy surveys.

Those increases have lowered some gasoline consumption this summer compared with a year ago as the higher price of gas appears to have discouraged some travel. Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed gas demand dropped from 9.25 million barrels per day to 8.54 million per day in early August.

"The drop of a dollar per gallon has not been enough to restore motorist demand, which is in retreat due to sustained high price levels," industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said in his weekly report on Sunday.

In a recent survey by AAA, almost two-thirds of U.S. adults have changed their driving habits or lifestyle since March. Drivers' top two changes to offset high gas prices are driving less and combining errands.

"Falling pump prices may eventually lead to more drivers hitting the road again," Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, said in a news release on Monday. "But that hasn't happened yet. Instead, many drivers are waiting for prices to fall further before reverting to their typical driving habits."

But other analysts believe an improving economy in the U.S. could bring a halt to further declines in gas prices, at least in the immediate future.

"For the ninth week straight, gas prices have continued to fall," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a report Monday. "While the West Coast and some areas of the Rockies may see prices continue to drift lower, I do believe the national average could tick higher this week as the better than expected jobs report last week likely means less demand destruction than anticipated."

The lowest-priced gas in Chattanooga cotninued to be at Sam's Club station on Lee Highway, where gas was selling at $3.13 per gallon and motorists continued to line up Monday for the cheaper fuel.

Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas was in the San Francisco Bay Area at $5.36 per gallon. The lowest average was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at $3.38 per gallon.

The national average price of diesel has declined 14.8 cents in the last week and stands at $5.27 per gallon.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340. Follow in Twitter at @Dflessner1.

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Chattanooga Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com

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