Gas prices drop below $2 a gallon at some Chattanooga area stations

Gasoline prices fell last week for the seventh consecutive week, cutting prices at one Speedway station on Highway 58 in Chattanooga today to only $1.95 a gallon and reducing gas prices below $2 a gallon at eight stations in Cleveland, Tennessee.

The average price of regular gasoline in Chattanooga fell another 2.6% in the past week to $2.13 a gallon - the cheapest price for fuel in nearly six months. In nearby Cleveland - one of the five cheapest cities for gasoline in America - the average price of regular fell another penny a gallon last week to $2.06 a gallon.

Gas prices in Chattanooga are 18.4 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and 34.6 cents per gallon below the prices of year ago. Chattanooga motorists continue to enjoy lower prices than most of America with local prices averaging 43 cents a gallon less than the U.S. average.

Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said today he expect prices to drop even more as the summertime driving season ends.

"Heading into the fall, it's nearly guaranteed that gas prices will continue to fall as we switch back to cheaper winter gasoline and demand plummets, especially as Hurricane Dorian shuts down the Southeast," DeHaan said in a report today. "While a China, U.S. trade deal could undermine the normal seasonal decline in prices that we anticipate, it's still nearly guaranteed that average gas prices in nearly every state will stand lower on Thanksgiving and Christmas versus where we stand today."

DeHaan said Dorian is not expected to impact any U.S. refineries, far different from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 which knocked out a third of U.S. refining capacity.

Cheapest cities for gas

Among the 456 cities sampled by Gasbuddy.com, regular gas is cheapest in:

1. Hammond, Louisiana, $2.01 a gallon, down 2 cents in the past week

2. South Haven, Mississippi, $2.02 a gallon, down 0.1 cents

3. Lafayette, Louisiana, $2.03 a gallon, down 1.1 cents a gallon

4. Cleveland, Tennessee, $2.06 a gallon, down 1 cents a gallon

5. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, $2.06 a gallon, up 0.2 cents a gallon.

Source: Gasbuddy.com. Chattanooga placed as the 23rd cheapest city.