After six weeks of steadily rising prices, Chattanooga motorists got a reprieve from more pain at the gas pump last week with the price of gasoline declining slightly in the past week, according to surveys by GasBuddy.com.
The online gas price reporting service said Monday that the average price of regular gas in Chattanooga dropped half a cent per gallon in the past week to $2.60. Gas prices in Chattanooga are 30.6 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and 81.1 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, GasBuddy.com said. Chattanooga gas prices are the highest for mid-March since 2014.
Despite the increase in local gas prices so far this year, Chattanooga prices still average 29 cents a gallon below the U.S. average, according to GasBuddy.com.
“With oil prices finally sagging over the last week on inflation fears and worries about a surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe impacting oil demand, motorists filling their tanks may soon see a brief respite from rising gas prices,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “While gasoline demand last week rose to its highest level since the pandemic began, concerns that oil demand growth will stall with COVID-19 cases surging in Europe are eroding oil’s recent rise.”
DeHaan, who previously predicted U.S. gas prices would average $3 a gallon by April, said he still expects “a bumpy road the next few weeks ” as markets sort out the pace of the economic recovery and travel plans for the summer.