After three months of steadily declining gasoline costs that cut local prices at the pump by 84 cents a gallon since October, gas prices in Chattanooga jumped last week by an average 14.4 cents a gallon, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga released Monday.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said the rise in prices at the pump reflects the recent increase in oil prices around the globe and are likely to head still higher this year.
“With oil prices back over $50 per barrel, it looks like gas prices in more areas may soon bottom out and start to tick higher,” he said. “While it doesn’t seem that prices will rise very far, it looks more and more like the lowest price of the year may now be behind us.”
Oil prices declined in trading Monday after data showed weakening imports and exports in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer. China’s exports fell by the most in two years in December while imports contracted, official figures showed,
“Both imports and exports disappointed expectations and are set to revive fears about a global growth slowdown,” Norbert Ruecker, head of macro and commodity research at Swiss bank Julius Baer, told CNBC.
Chattanooga gas prices rose far more than the modest half-cent-a-gallon increase nationwide, although Chattanooga fuel prices continued to average 30 cents a gallon less the the U.S. average and were the lowest among major cities surveyed by GasBuddy.com in Tennessee. Chattanooga gas prices averaged $1.94 a gallon at the start of this week, compared with a national average price of $2.24 a gallon.
Gas prices for January in Chattanooga still remain the lowest since 2016 and are 29.4 cents a gallon below a year ago, GasBuddy.com said.
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