With oil and wholesale gasoline prices rising last week, AAA is warning Florida motorists that gas prices could soon be rising in the Sunshine State.
Over the past weekend, the average gas prices in Florida stood at $2.40 per gallon, the same as it was at the start of last week. That’s below the national average which stood at $2.53 per gallon on Sunday. Last week, the national average moved up six cents per gallon.
The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton market had the most expensive gas in the state with an average of $2.56 per gallon followed by Miami where prices averaged $2.55 per gallon. Panama City had the most expensive gas outside of South Florida with prices averaging $2.50 per gallon on Sunday.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market had the least expensive gas in Florida with prices averaging $2.26 per gallon on Sunday followed by Orlando where prices stood at $2.30 on average. Jacksonville had the least expensive gas in the state outside of Central Florida with prices averaging $2.33 per gallon on Sunday.
Still, some parts in Florida have seen prices slide up this week with average prices rising eight cents per gallon in the Sebastian-Vero Beach area, seven cents in Pensacola and five cents in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach market.
Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for AAA and the Auto Club Group, said other parts of Florida could see higher prices in the days to come.
"Drivers are seeing pump prices increase in some markets, due to higher demand and falling supply levels," Jenkins said on Monday . "It would not be a surprise to see gas prices rise 5-10 cents this week, since wholesale prices rose an average of seven cents last week. However, longterm fall gasoline demand is expected to drop in November, which should prevent any significant spike in gas prices before the end of the year."
Jenkins pointed to EIA’s report showing higher demand at the end of October and drops in gasoline storage levels, leading to higher gas prices across the nation,
So far in 2017, gas prices in Florida have ranged on average between highs of $2.73 per gallon in September when the state was impacted by hurricanes and a low of $2.13 per gallon in the middle of July.
