Chattanooga gas prices fell again after the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel weekend, dropping another 2.5 cents a gallon at the start of this week to an average of $3.02 per gallon for regular fuel, according to Gas Buddy's daily survey of 170 stations in Chattanooga.
Gas prices in Chattanooga are 6.3 cents per gallon lower than a month ago but remain $1.14 per gallon above where they were a year ago.
Chattanooga gas prices continued to average below most other cities with the average price of regular gas in Chattanooga priced 35 cents a gallon below the U.S. average and 5 cents a gallon below Tennessee's statewide average. According to Gas Buddy, the cheapest gas in Chattanooga Monday was being sold at a Circle K gas station on Ashland Terrace near the Chattanooga and Red Bank city limits, where regular gas was priced at $2.85 a gallon.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said President Joe Biden's planned release of fuel from the strategic oil reserve and an expected drop in gas demand after Thanksgiving with greater pandemic concerns should combine to push prices at the pump even lower.
"Gas price declines are slowly picking up momentum," De Haan said. "With oil's recent fall and the jury out on a new COVID variant, omicron, we could be in store for lower prices based on many countries turning back to travel restrictions, limiting oil demand and potentially accelerating the drop in gas prices."
De Haan said OPEC is awaiting more market movements and information about the impact from the omicron coronavirus variant.
"But so far, Americans can expect the new variant to push gas prices even lower," he said. "Beyond the next few weeks, it remains nearly impossible to predict where oil and gas prices will head, though turbulence is guaranteed."
- Compiled by Dave Flessner