Tennessee’s new gas tax increase will add another 4 cents a gallon to the price of fuel next month, but local prices at the pump continued to fall last week, dropping again below $2 a gallon in Chattanooga, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga.
The average price of regular gas in Chattanooga fell by 1.4 cents per gallon last week to $1.99 per gallon on Sunday, GasBuddy.com said in a report released today. Chattanooga gas prices averaged 38 cents per gallon less than the U.S. average and were a dime per gallon below the statewide average in Tennessee.
Including the change in gas prices in Chattanooga during the past week, local fuel prices are 19.3 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 5.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago.
Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, said the normal increase in prices at the pump during the busier summer driving season has been offset by the inability of OPEC to limit oil supplies amid plentiful supplies of fuel from both increased U.S. oil production and improved vehicle mileage.
“Oil markets failed to be convinced last week by OPEC’s production cuts as U.S. oil production rises to its highest level since summer 2015,” DeHaan said. “This has kept the price of oil constrained and keeps the door propped open for gasoline prices to remain at historically low levels as millions of Americans take to the road.”