The aftermath of from Hurricane Harvey, combined with the busy Labor Day travel holiday ahead, is boosting fuel prices this week.
But Chattanooga motorists are starting the week with gas prices 31 cents below the national average and the lowest in Tennessee, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga. Among more than 350 metropolitan cities, GasBuddy.com said Chattanooga ranked 21st for the least expensive gas. Only Tuscaloosa and Gadsden Alabama had cheaper gas in the tri-state region of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
Average retail gasoline prices in Chattanooga rose a penny a gallon in the past week, averaging $2.05 per gallon. Including the change in gas prices in Chattanooga during the past week, the average price of a gallon of regular gas on Sunday was up 3.8 cents per gallon from a year ago higher and 5.4 cents per gallon higher than a month ago.
But gas was still selling for as low as $1.91 a gallon at a handful of gas stations in Lookout Valley.
The national average has increased 6.0 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 14.4 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.
But with up to 15 percent of oil refineries shut down today, oil prices are moving higher today.
Harvey is the strongest storm to hit the United States since 2004, shutting plants able to process some 2.26 million barrels of oil a day. Pipelines also were closed, potentially stranding some crude shipments in West Texas.
“Crude oil has taken it quite badly because of all of the refining capacity that has been shut in,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, told Bloomberg news today in Copenhagen. “That’s only somewhat offset by the slowdown in production.”
Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said even before the hurricane, gas prices would likely move higher this week because of the end-of-summer travel from the Labor Day weekend.
“Gas prices are up in many places and motorists should be gearing up for more in the coming weeks, thanks to Hurricane Harvey inundating significant refineries along the Texas coastline, leading to closures and tilting the delicate balance of supply and demand,” DeHaan said. “Prices will likely rise nearly country wide heading into Labor Day, from rural towns in the Rockies to major cities in the Midwest and West Coast- nearly everyone will feel a bit of a pinch at the pump from Harvey. The impact could linger for several weeks or longer, depending on how long it takes Texas refiners to return to normal operations. In addition, the situation could worsen should more shutdowns or outages happen in the coming week as Harvey continues to drop feet of rain on already flooded Texas.”
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| Chattanooga Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com |