Enroute to Sand Mountain, James Davis fills his tank Monday with "the cheapest gas I've seen," Davis said of the price at the Mapco Mart on Cummings Highway. "Long as we don't get another hurricane."Average gasoline prices in Chattanooga continued their four-week decline, dropping by another 10 cents a gallon in the past week to an average of $2.32 per gallon, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga.
Chattanooga gas prices averaged 15 cents per gallon below the U.S. average at the start of this week and are down by 25 cents per gallon from the $2.57 per gallon peak reached in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, according to GasBuddy.com. However, they're still 15 cents per gallon above the prices before the hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast, idling refineries and pipelines in late August.
"Recently, since the chaos in Texas has calmed down after the storm, gas prices have started to go back down," Cyerra Price, a sales associate at a local Mapco, said.
Storms and other natural disasters often cause prices to go up or even cause shortages, she said. But despite the damage over the weekend from Hurricane Nate, GasBuddy.com analysts expect the decline in gas prices to continue this fall.
"Gasoline supply has continued to improve and as temperatures begin to feel more fall like, demand for fuel will continue to decline," Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said in a report Monday. "Hurricane Nate, a fast-moving storm, did little to disrupt the flow of fuel to market while having a larger impact on oil rigs. However, the nation continues to be awash in crude oil, so the storm mattered little to oil prices."
AAA, which conducts a similar survey of gas prices, also minimized the impact of Hurricane Nate.
Jeanette Casselano, a AAA spokeswoman, said motorists will see minimal to no impact to gas prices in the region hit by the storm. Ahead of the storm, many Gulf Coast oil platforms and rigs were shut down and employees evacuated. In addition, two refineries, accounting for 6 percent of total Gulf Coast refining capacity, temporarily shut down but have since restarted.
"Gas prices have fallen steadily for the past four weeks and now we are seeing gasoline demand drop alongside prices," she said. "The latest demand figures show the lowest since the week Hurricane Harvey hit and can likely be the beginning of a downward demand trend indicating even cheaper gas prices to come this fall."
Gas prices are returning to their pre-hurricane prices in Lookout Valley as every island is busy at the Circle K Exxon Monday at 3743 Cummings Highway. Ashlee Byrd, a sales associate at another local Mapco, wasn't too sure about Hurricane Nate's effects. She said it might take another week or two before prices continue to drop.
Price said she expected to hear from the corporate office over the next few days to know whether or not Hurricane Nate will cause prices to go up again.
While gas prices have consistently been going down, fuel prices are still 24.3 cents per gallon higher than a year ago and are 39 cents per gallon higher than two years ago at this time, according to GasBuddy.com.
Donald Wheeler, a Chattanooga visitor from Mississippi, was fueling up his car Monday afternoon. He said gas prices are still too high.
"They need to go down by another 10 or 15 cents," he said.
Wheeler, a truck driver, said diesel fuel costs him about $2,000 per month sometimes.
Gas prices on Monday were the cheapest in the Chattanooga area in Lookout Valley, where both BP and Exxon stations were selling gas at $2.12 a gallon.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.
| Lowest Gas Prices in Chattanooga |
| Chattanooga Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com |