Gas prices fall below $2 a gallon in Ooltewah, Cleveland

A handful of gas stations in Ooltewah and Cleveland, Tenn., are offering the cheapest gas in the Southeast, selling regular gas below $2 a gallon on Monday, according to a surveys by the online service GasBuddy.com.

Shell stations in Ooltewah and Cleveland and Citigo ad Exxon stations in Cleveland began the week selling regular gas at $1.99 a gallon - the cheapest price for any station in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and the Carolinas.

Those stations helped cut the average price of gas in the past week by 0.4 cents a gallon in the Chattanooga market despite a nationwide increase in fuel prices over the holidays. Chattanooga gas prices average 39 cents a gallon below the U.S. average of $2.59 a gallon, GasBuddy.com said.

Chattanooga gas stations are ending the year with fuel prices up nearly 22% from the depressed levels a year ago, but the average price of regular gas today is still 11% lower than it was a decade ago. GasBuddy.com said Chattanooga service stations charged an average of $2.20 a gallon for regular gasoline Monday, down 0.4 cents a gallon from a week ago but still 38.4 cents a gallon higher than a year ago when fuel prices fell to the lowest year end cost in 11 years.

"The streak has been broken: for seven straight weeks we saw the national average drop, but the fun has come to an end as oil prices continue to show strength into the last days of 2019 boosting the national average this past week," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. "Prices jumped thanks to a notable, yet anticipated drop in oil inventories, sending oil to multi-month highs above $61 and gasoline prices following. However, weakness will likely return to gasoline prices in January and February as demand weakens, so perhaps all is not lost."

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.