Jesse Scheckner
Gas prices in Florida downshifted slightly after a surprise increase last week, ultimately falling to $3.46 cents Monday.
That’s 4 cents cheaper than on Sunday, Oct. 1, and the lowest daily average price since July, according to AAA — The Auto Club Group.
“Florida gas prices tried to swim upstream early last week, but were quickly knocked down by week’s end,” AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins said in a statement. “Oil and gasoline suffered big losses in the futures market, which could enable pump prices to move lower. However, that could change depending on how the market responds to rising geopolitical tensions following the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel.”
The attack on Israel by Hamas, the de facto controlling power in Gaza, reportedly did not impact global oil supplies. But oil prices nevertheless rose over the weekend due to uncertainty of how the conflict will unfold.
Following the Oct. 6 attack — which occurred on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war in which Israel’s Arab neighbors launched a surprise attack on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur — oil prices shot up in overnight trading. The increase erased what had been a big drop in oil prices the week prior.
By Sunday night, the U.S. price of crude was trading at above $86 per barrel, a 4% increase from Friday but still below the $90 threshold at which oil prices spent most of the previous couple weeks.
According to AAA, it’s unclear how much of an impact the attack on Israel will have on gas prices. Alongside the drop in oil prices last week, gasoline futures — the standardized, exchange-traded contracts by which buyers agree to take delivery from sellers of a specific quantity of gas at a set price — plummeted by more than 30 cents per gallon.
Unlike oil prices, however, gasoline futures logged nominal gains since the attack.
As usual, the most expensive Florida metropolitan market for gas is the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area, where motorists Sunday were shelling out $3.66 per gallon on average. Naples ($3.57 per gallon) and Port St. Lucie ($3.53) had the second- and third-priciest petrol.
Meanwhile, the lowest pump prices are in Pensacola, at $3.25 per gallon, followed by the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach area ($3.27) and Panama City ($3.36).
