Chattanooga gas stations continued to offer the cheapest gasoline prices in Tennessee during the past week as average fuel prices declined, while diesel prices rose again, according to the online pricing service GasBuddy.com.
The average price of regular gas in Chattanooga dropped 9.5 cents a gallon in the past year to $3.16 a gallon, which was 9 cents a gallon below the statewide average, according to GasBuddy's survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga. Gas prices in Chattanooga average 16.9 cents per gallon less than they did a month ago and are nearly $1.50 a gallon below the all-time peak prices reached in June. Gas prices in Chattanooga are now just 4 cents a gallon above where they were a year ago.
The Sam's Club on Lee Highway in Chattanooga once again boasted the lowest price for regular gas anywhere in Tennessee at $2.86 a gallon Monday, although Sam's boosted its price by 4 cents a gallon from its Sunday price of $2.82 per gallon, GasBuddy said.
Chattanooga gas prices, on average, were 62 cents per gallon less than the U.S. average, according to GasBuddy.com surveys.
While regular gas prices fell, the national average price of diesel rose another 3 to 4 cents a gallon in the last week to an average of $5.32 per gallon.
"National diesel supply remains tight, but supplies of diesel did see a slight rise last week," Patrick De Haan, an oil industry analyst for Gasbuddy, said in a report Monday. "The majority of stations, especially away from the East Coast and Northeast, should have very few issues with diesel supply, though some stations in those regions could see diesel delivery times slip. Brief outages at a limited number of stations are possible, but with refineries continuing to churn out product and maintenance wrapping up, I'm optimistic the situation will improve."
Although fuel prices have nearly returned to the 2021 levels, they remain nearly double the record-low prices reached in November 2020.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for December delivery fell 82 cents to $91.79 a barrel Monday. Brent crude for January delivery fell 65 cents to $97.92 a barrel.
-- Compiled by Dave Flessner