Scott Powers
The price of gasoline soared 12 cents per gallon in Florida in the past week, reaching a level on Sunday not seen in nearly seven years.
According to AAA — The Auto Club Group, Florida drivers were paying an average of $2.97 per gallon on Sunday, up from $2.85 the previous Sunday.
The cost of a gallon of gasoline is well over $3 a gallon in parts of South Florida and the Panhandle. The best deal seen in the Sunshine State on Sunday was in Punta Gorda, where gas averaged $2.93 per gallon, according to AAA.
The price surge, seen nationwide, follows significant gains in the prices of crude oil and gasoline futures, as the recovery in global fuel demand outpaces supply, the auto club group reported Monday morning. Across the U.S., the average price was $3.08 per gallon on Sunday.
The average Florida pump price is the highest since November 2014. The state average of $2.97 is seven cents more than a month ago, and 44 cents more than this time in 2019. Pump prices are now averaging six cents more than the previous 2021 high — set back in March. It is also five cents more than the highest price in 2018.
“It now costs $2 more to fill an average-sized 15-gallon gas tank than it did a week ago,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins stated in a news release. “Fortunately, futures prices flattened out last week, so drivers should not face another round of rising prices this week.”
Orlando, Fort Myers, and Jacksonville drivers saw prices at $2.94 at the pumps; St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Miami, $2.95; Tampa, and Pensacola, $2.96; Fort Myers, $2.98; Fort Lauderdale, $2.99; Panama City, $3.06; and West Palm Beach, $3.08.
AAA reports the recent jump at the pump has largely been driven by the rising price of crude oil. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts in the June release of its Short-Term Energy Outlook that global crude oil prices will stabilize in mid-2021, then average $8 per barrel less in 2022.
“In the coming months, we expect global oil production to catch up with the increases we’ve seen in demand in 2021,” EIA Acting Administrator Stephen Nalley said. “U.S. and global oil producers are increasing their production, which should help moderate oil prices that have increased significantly as global economic concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic have begun to ease.”
4 comments
Ed
June 14, 2021 at 9:36 am
Next time you Democrats that voted for the old fool and his giggling sidekick fill up your car at the gas station and you see a guy laughing at you that’s me.
Ocean Joe
June 14, 2021 at 9:58 am
Ed, basic law of supply and demand at work. Supply was reduced by a lack of demand and now that we’re opening up demand is back and supply must catch up, and any good capitalist will raise prices based on that demand and scarcity of product. Same thing happens in agriculture. Automobile production. Construction. And all those windows your pals smashed at the capitol will cost more too.
Ed
June 14, 2021 at 10:06 am
What about the windows in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Chicago, NYC, and on and on. A lot more destruction by your people.
John
June 14, 2021 at 11:01 am
For the 20% who voted for Biden, I hope this cramps your style!
Inflation is just warming up. Gas will be $10 soon if you can even find any. I was a WM and steak was $17.99 a pound!! As diesel fuel continues to climb everything will increase and the shortages of everything will be rampant. Vote Communist and this is your future!
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