After Hurricane Harvey pushed up gas prices by nearly 50 cents per gallon in the previous three weeks, Chattanooga motorists got a slight reprieve in the price of fuel at the pump last week and should enjoy lower prices as markets stabilize this fall, GasBuddy.com said today.
The average retail price of a gallon of regular gas in Chattanooga fell by 2.8 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.54 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga. Despite the weekly drop, gas prices in Chattanooga are still up by 48.4 cents per gallon in the past month and are only 6 cents per gallon below the U.S. average.
Chattanooga gas prices before Hurricane Harvey had been averaging about 30 cents per gallon below the U.S. average, but the shut down of refineries and the temporary closing of the Colonial Pipeline that supplies fuel to Chattanooga pushed up local gas prices by the biggest amount in more than six years.
Fuel demand also remained high last week due to an influx into the area of Floridians evacuating the Sunshine State during hurricane Irma.
Chattanooga gas prices are up 38.2 cents per gallon from the same time a year ago, according to GasBuddy.com.
But Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said fuel prices should ease in coming weeks as markets get back to normal following the storm disruptions.
“As we welcome back winter gasoline across most of the country, gasoline production has continued to recover after Harvey, leading much of the country to enjoy falling gasoline prices along with fall weather,” DeHaan said in a report today. “With refineries continuing to get back online and with demand cooling off from the summer months, .this week could see some of the largest drops in gas prices in many months. It still will take time to completely heal from the issues Harvey and Irma left, particularly due to the large scale disruptions of fuel logistics and production, but improvement will continue both with lower retail prices and high refinery output.”
Gas is priced the lowest today in Chattanooga at the Sam’s Club on Lee Highway, which is selling regular gas at $2.44 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.com.