While residents across the state were able to spend quality time with friends and family last week, Thanksgiving Day’s feast didn’t cause too much of a belt-tightening for gas pumps.
GasBuddy recently announced that the average retail gas prices in Tennessee have fallen 2.6 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.26 per gallon, according to the organization’s daily survey of 3,821 stations in Tennessee.
While lower for the year, the prices were a bit of an increase compared to 2016.
Including the change in gas prices in Tennessee during the past week, prices yesterday were 32.2 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 2.5 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 3.4 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 37.9 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.
According to GasBuddy data, gasoline prices on November 27 in Tennessee have ranged widely over the last five years:
$1.94/g in 2016
$1.87/g in 2015
$2.58/g in 2014
$3.17/g in 2013
$3.17/g in 2012
A local check-in for gas prices on GasBuddy indicated the average in Elizabethton was $2.19 as of early Tuesday morning. While the pumps may be forgiving for now, the possibility of a spike is looming.
“With Thanksgiving travel now behind us, all eyes turn to OPEC and their meeting this week to determine the fate of the cartel’s oil production,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said in a statement issued to the Elizabethton Star. “Gasoline prices took a breather heading into Thanksgiving which may last another few days, but as oil prices perk back up heading into OPEC’s annual meeting, we may see a rebound soon. OPEC’s decision may reverberate at pumps in the months and year ahead, and while the decision is likely to be an extension of production cuts made at their meeting a year ago, it’s certainly not yet guaranteed. Global oil inventories have already tightened noticeably in the last year and continuing such in the face of rising demand may spur oil prices even higher in the days, weeks and months ahead.”