Gas prices continued to decline last week in the Chattanooga region, falling to an average of only $2 a gallon for regular gas in Chattanooga and to less than $1.96 per gallon, on average, in Cleveland, according to price surveys released Monday by GasBuddy.com.
The average retail price of regular gas in Chattanooga fell 2.7 cents per gallon in the past week to average 33 cents per gallon below the U.S. average. Prices fell even more in nearby Cleveland, where regular gas prices averaged $1.96 per gallon - the lowest of any metro market in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
Cleveland prices were the 7th lowest of any of the U.S. cities surveyed by GasBuddy.com
Gas on Monday was selling as low as $1.76 per gallon at Murphy USA station on Signal Mountain Boulevard in Chattanooga.
But prices at the pump could soon be headed higher. On Monday, oil prices surged more than 3 percent after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to extend production cuts into 2018.
The headline sent U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude as high as $49.66 a barrel, solidly above the $48.20 support level for the first time in two weeks.
Despite higher crude oil prices Monday, gas prices at the pump locally are the lowest they have been since March and the lowest for this time of the year in more than six years.
"The national average gas price has again declined in the last week, but the road ahead may be a bit bumpier," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com.
"While the national average fell, several states in the Great Lakes saw average prices rise thanks to a mid-week rally in oil markets that saw oil prices sneak in a net gain for the first week in several, and that may impact prices in the week ahead. Thank Wednesday's weekly report from the Energy Information Administration for the rally as government data showed a larger than expected decline in oil inventories and gasoline inventories, weighing on markets at the precise time that OPEC chats about extending its crude oil production cuts."