Gas prices rose last week

Gas prices in Chattanooga edged higher last week for the first time in nearly a month, but local fuel prices are still 35 cents per gallon below the U.S. average and Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tenn., remain among the cheapest cities in America to buy gasoline.

Average price of a gallon of gas in Chattanooga rose during the week of July 4th by 0.8 cents per gallon to nearly $1.90 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga.

Including the change in gas prices in Chattanooga during the past week, prices Sunday were 1 cent per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 7.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, GasBuddy.com said. The national average of $2.25 per gallon for regular gas is down 7.9 cents per gallon during the past month and stands 2.7 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

“With July 4 now in the rear-view mirror, gasoline prices in many states have advanced following the uptick in oil prices in late June,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. com. “While gas prices may rise slightly in some states in the week ahead, it will be a very mixed bag across the country as the recently rally in crude oil prices appears to have stalled for now. Call it the summer blues at the pump. Prices may fluctuate mildly in the weeks ahead, but we’ll be bouncing near the summer low price for some time. Don’t expect much improvement in prices for the rest of the summer.”

Oil prices rose modestly higher Monday as news that Libya and Nigeria have been invited to join OPEC’s meeting with other major producers later this month. The two countries had been exempt from the pact among major oil producers, led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to limit global production and ease a glut of oil that has plagued the industry.

Last week, oil prices slumped by 4 percent,

“The belief is that rising Libyan and Nigerian output are undermining both the efforts at rebalancing the market and the unity of the OPEC/non-OPEC coalition,” Michael Lynch, president of president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, told MarketWatch.

“Whether the group can extract more than some promises [from Libya and Nigeria] remains doubtful at this point,” he said. “But it is also doubtful whether Nigeria and Libya can continue growing” their production.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.