Chattanooga gas prices jump nearly a dime a gallon last week

Gas prices tile
Gas prices tile

Gasoline prices in Chattanooga continued their 3-week-long increase last week as oil prices rose again last week, pushing up the average price of regular gas in Chattanooga by nearly a dime a gallon more to top $2 a gallon for the first week in 2019, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga.

The average price of regular gas in Chattanooga on Sunday in Chattanooga was $2.05 per gallon, up 9.9 cents a gallon from a week earlier.

Despite the increase, Chattanooga gas prices remained 26 cents a gallon below the U.S. average on Sunday. The Gasbuddy.com survey showed gas prices in Chattanooga have risen an average of 11.9 cents in the past month but remain 21.3 cents a gallon below a year ago.

Chattanooga, which has maintained the lowest gas prices among Tennessee's major cities for most of the past year, edged higher than Knoxville's average price of gas last week. Knoxville prices for regular gas rose by an average of only 3.3 cents per gallon to $2.03 a gallon on Sunday and were the lowest among major cities in Tennessee.

Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said gas prices have advanced to their highest level in nearly two months as oil prices move higher.

"Gasoline demand remains seasonally weak, but last week's report from the Energy Information Administration showed refinery utilization plunging, meaning less gasoline is flowing out of refiners," DeHaan said. "In addition, bullish data and optimism on a U.S.-China trade deal helped propel markets last week, as well as turmoil in Venezuela making a strong case for an larger absence of heavy crudes the market depends on. But while gas prices are nearly guaranteed to be higher in May than today, it is looking more likely that the rise in prices this year may be more muted than we've seen in years past when prices launched 35-75 cents during the spring."

The cheapest gas in Chattanooga today is at the BP and Shell gas stations on Signal Mountain Boulevard where regular gas is priced at $1.90 per gallon.

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