Gas prices, on average, fell below $2 a gallon in Chattanooga Sunday for the first time in six weeks, but analysts for GasBuddy.com don’t expect fuel prices to drop again this winter as low as they got in February.
The online gas reporting service GasBuddy.com said the average price of a regular gas today in Chattanooga is $1.99 per gallon. Four stations on Highway 153 in Hixson are selling gas today at only $1.84 per gallon – the cheapest in the region, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga.
The average price of gas in Chattanooga is now 22 cents per gallon below the national average of $2.21 per gallon.
Including the change in gas prices in Chattanooga during the past week, the average price of a gas Sunday in Chattanooga is 18.5 cents below what it was a month ago when a Colonial Pipeline leak pushed up temporarily in the Southeast. But local gas prices are still up 12.5 cents per gallon compared with a year ago.
Chattanooga prices remain lower than nearby Knoxville and Huntsville, Ala., but prices are still up by 45 cents per gallon from the record low reached in February.
Nationwide, the average price of gas topped the year ago level for the first time in more than two years.
“The trend that has delivered consistently lower gas prices is showing signs of fading away as consistent discussion from both OPEC and non-OPEC members appears to be aligned for a likely production cut at the OPEC meeting in late November,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. “If OPEC doesn’t cut production, gas prices would likely drop in many areas across the country. It’s very difficult to gauge what the outcome may be given the agendas of various oil producing countries, but no matter, don’t expect gas prices this winter to drop as low as last year, and certainly don’t expect next summer’s gas prices to be as low as this year.”