Chattanooga gas prices up but below a year ago
Gasoline prices in Chattanooga rose last week as the summer driving season began, but analysts still expect fuel prices to remain below last year throughout the summer.
The average price of regular gas rose 8.7 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.12 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga. Prices in Chattanooga are up nearly 9 cents a gallon in the past month, but they still remain more than $1.04 a gallon below where they were last year.
Chattanooga fuel prices, on average, are also 43 cents a gallon below the U.S. average, GasBuddy.com said.
“Gasoline prices have drifted higher in the last week due to some relatively minor refinery kinks and low gasoline supply, but it may not be a trend that lasts too much longer,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a report released Tuesday. “As we unofficially start the summer driving season, the national average is likely to spend much of the summer in the range of $3.35-$3.85 per gallon, though it could go higher if unexpected refinery outages flare up, or we see a major hurricane or economic development. While gasoline prices have inched up slightly, we’re still faring much better than we did last year.”