| Lowest Gas Prices in Chattanooga |
| Chattanooga Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com |
Traveling over Signal Mountain twice a day between his home in Dunlap and his job in Chattanooga, Jason Longson used to spend about $35 a week putting gas in his 1993 Mercedes-Benz just to get to work and back home.
"With these prices, it's only costing me about $20 a week, which means I have a lot more money I can keep in my pocket," Longson said Monday while filling his car with $1.63 per gallon regular gas on Signal Mountain Road. "That's a real help, especially right here at Christmastime."
The early Christmas gift for motorists could get even better in coming weeks unless the oil price slide reverses itself.
Oil prices fell again Monday morning to near an 11-year low with U.S. crude oil dropping briefly below $35 a barrel before rebounding to close Monday at $36.31 per barrel. Oil prices have fallen by more than two thirds from the peak of more than $113 per barrel reached in the summer of 2014.
The decline in oil prices at the wellhead has pushed gas prices down at the pump in Chattanooga to the lowest price since the end of 2008 at the depth of the Great Recession. Local gas prices declined another 3.1 cents per gallon in the past week to an average of $1.71 per gallon, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga.
The price of regular gasoline fell to as low as $1.59 a gallon Monday at the Pure station in Soddy-Daisy and analysts said prices at the pump could drop even more.
"We are going to end this year with the lowest gas prices since 2008, and people want to know can it get even lower? Yes, it can," said Jeff Pelton, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "There is simply too much crude oil out there for gas prices not to decline."
Chattanooga gas prices this week are down 58.4 cents per gallon below a year ago and remained 30 cents per gallon below the U.S. average.
Mark Hall, a 20-year-old Chattanooga State student who lives on Signal Mountain, said he often drives 100 miles or more a day "and the cheaper gas is certainly welcome and helps save me money."
Motorists aren't the only ones being advantaged by cheaper petroleum. The price of natural gas, home heating oil and a variety of manufactured goods dependent upon petroleum for everything from plastics to steel are cheaper this year.
Natural gas prices plunged to a 14-year low Monday as unseasonably warm temperatures cut demand for gas heat. Natural-gas futures fell Monday to their lowest intraday level since January 2002.
"If this ultra-warm trend continues, the potential impact on natural gas could be severe," said Andy Weissman, chief executive of EBW AnalyticsGroup.
Natural gas futures fell 9.6 cents Monday to $1.894 a million British thermal unit - the lowest settlement since September 2001.
But some of the rock bottom prices may be short lived, at least in the price of gasoline. Cheaper oil is causing some oil rigs to shut down to balance supply and demand and gas prices are likely to rise again in the spring with heavier driving and the switch to summer blends.
"Unfortunately, not only does spring bring with it more accommodating weather, it also brings higher gas prices based upon the 1-2 punch of spring maintenance and the switch-over to more expensive summer blends," Pelton said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.