Georgia Gas Prices Sink to Pre-Harvey Levels

Staff Report From Georgia CEO

Tuesday, December 19th, 2017

The December discounts keep flowing at the pump. Gas prices have declined for 5 consecutive weeks, as refineries flood the market with more gasoline than is consumed. This helped prices return to levels not seen since August 30, when gas prices surged in response to Hurricane Harvey's impact on Gulf Coast refineries.

"Gulf Coast refineries have completely recovered from the effects of Hurricane Harvey, and are now flooding the market with fuel in anticipation of strong demand during the year-end holidays," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. "AAA forecasts a record-setting 97.4 million Americans will take a road trip during the final 10 days of the year. However, the strong supply of gasoline should help stave-off any gas price hikes that would otherwise be caused by such a surge in demand."

Gas prices for the year-end holidays should be on par with - if not lower than - last year. The state average is falling at a rate of one cent per day. If that trend continues, pump prices would drop another 8 cents before Christmas Day.

Georgia gas prices averaged $2.29 on Sunday - the lowest since August 30. The state average declined 3.5 cents during the past week. Georgia gas prices are 11 cents less than a month ago, and 10 cents more than this time last year.

The most expensive gas price averages in Georgia are in Savannah ($2.36), Brunswick ($2.32), and Columbus ($2.31)

The least expensive gas price averages in Georgia are in Catoosa-Dade-Walker ($2.19), Dalton ($2.20), Warner Robins ($2.21)

              Today    Christmas Day 2016    New Year's Day 2017

Florida    $2.38               $2.32                    $2.41

Georgia    $2.29               $2.19                   $2.25

Tennessee    $2.23            $2.09                  $2.13

Highs and Lows of 2017

National: the highest average price for gasoline was $2.67 on September 8. The lowest was $2.23 on July 5.

Florida: the highest average price in was $2.73 on September 9. The lowest was $2.13 on July 17.

Georgia: the highest average price was $2.76 on September 12. The lowest was $2.08 on July 5.

Tennessee: the highest average price was $2.60 on September 10. The lowest was $1.99 on July 5.