AAA: Gasoline prices keep ‘drifting lower’

Florida gasoline prices “have been on a steep slide for the last three weeks and should drift even lower this week,” AAA reported early Monday.

“The state average declined for the 24th consecutive day on Sunday, falling a total of 19 cents during that time,” the auto club said in a press release. All average retail prices are for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline. 

“Florida motorists are paying an average of $2.54 at the pump, which is 8 cents less than last week,” it said. “However, pump prices remain 34 cents more than this time last year, as prices remain inflated from supply and demand issues related to recent hurricanes.”

According to the release:

— The largest weekly discounts in the past week were found in Tampa (11 cents), Orlando (10 cents), and Gainesville (10 cents).

— The most expensive metro markets are West Palm Beach-Boca Raton ($2.66), Miami ($2.66), and Fort Lauderdale ($2.61).

— The least expensive metro markets are Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater ($2.44), Orlando ($2.47), and Pensacola ($2.47).

“The state average is falling by about a cent a day, as retail prices continue to recover from the effects of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA-The Auto Club Group.  

“Gas prices remain inflated by about 20-30 cents, and should decline another 5-10 cents this week,” he added. “Hurricane Nate’s impact on the Gulf Coast region should not affect local prices.

“However, if refineries and oil rigs have a difficult time resuming normal operations, and futures prices spike, then the local gas price plunge could stall out. This is something that will take a few days to play out.”

AAA updates fuel price averages daily at www.GasPrices.AAA.com.

“Every day up to 120,000 stations are surveyed based on credit card swipes and direct feeds in cooperation with the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and Wright Express for unmatched statistical reliability,” according to the release.