Gas prices in Florida continue to drop as the Sunshine State puts the impacts of hurricanes behind it.
AAA released a study on Monday showing gas prices across Florida have gone down five cents in the past week. On Sunday, gas prices stood, on average, at $2.42 per gallon in Florida. That’s below the national average which was $2.47 per gallon on Sunday.
Despite continuing to decline across the state, gas prices remain, on average, 18 cents higher per gallon in Florida than they did before Hurricane Harvey impacted the Gulf and oil production. However, things are moving in the right direction, with gas prices dropping 30 cents in Florida over the past five weeks.
Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for AAA and the Auto Club Group, said that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted oil supplies dropped 5.7 million barrels and production dropped almost 1 million barrels which raised oil prices. But he insisted that these changes won’t impact consumers at the pump in the short haul and said he expected gas prices to continue to drop.
"Motorists should expect another round of discounts at the pump this week," Jenkins said on Monday, "Gasoline futures and wholesale prices gained some strength last week, but not enough to stop the pump price plunge. Retail prices remain about 5-10 cents higher than where they should be, based on current fundamentals."
South Florida has the most expensive gas in the state with prices averaging $2.59 per gallon in Miami and $2.58 per gallon in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton market. The Tampa Bay region has the least expensive gas in Florida with the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market seeing an average of $2.28 per gallon followed by Orlando which had a $2.32 per gallon average on Sunday.
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