Chattanooga gas prices fell by their biggest weekly decline in more than three months in Chattanooga last week in response to falling oil prices.
Chattanooga motorists could get even more relief at the gas pump this week as oil prices fall in response to President Trump's statement Sunday that he would sharply raise tariffs on Chinese goods, threatening to upend trade talks between the world's biggest economies.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell this morning by 53 cents per barrel to $63.31 per barrel, the lowest price since March 29.
"Trump's sudden hard line on China tariffs has spooked investors, who are scrambling to reduce their risk levels in the market," Jasper Lawler, head of research for the London Capital Group, told the Reuters news service today.
In Chattanooga, surveys of 170 area gas stations Sunday by the online gas service Gasbuddy.com found the average price of regular gas in Chattanooga was $2.46 a gallon, or 3.2 cents less than a week ago and 43 cents below the U.S. average. Local gas prices in Chattanooga are still 1.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago, but they are 4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago at this time.
"It appears that large increases in gas prices have begun to fade to distant memory, lending credibility to the notion that gas prices may be close to peaking for the time being," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "Oil prices have plummeted, and with President Trump's shocking warning Sunday about raising tariffs on China, oil prices may see another weekly loss along with wholesale gasoline prices on the worry that perhaps a trade deal is not as close as anticipated, risking the recent growth in the U.S. economy and potentially leading to lower oil demand."
DeHaan said he expects gas prices to peak in the next few weeks, barring any unexpected fuel refinery outages.
"We're in the last inning or so of the seasonal rally and once this game is over we'll likely begin to see prices recede in the month of June, tracking very closely to what we experienced last summer," he said.
According to GasBuddy.com price reports, the cheapest stations in Chattanooga for regular gas today are eight stations selling regular gas at $2.37 a gallon - most of them on Cummings Highway or Browns Ferry Road in Lookout Valley. The lowest price in the state today is $2.35 per gallon in Crossville, Tennessee.
The national average price of gasoline rose 1.3 cents per gallon in the last week to an average of $2.89 a gallon - up .14.3 cents per gallon from a month ago.