After drifting lower for a month, gas prices ticked up two cents just before Memorial Day, and travel club AAA says they might not get any higher for the rest of the summer.
If that’s the case, vacationing families will have a few extra dollars to spend on ice cream and hot dogs compared to last year, when the Russia-Ukraine war sent pump prices in Florida soaring well into June.
Monday’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Florida was $3.41, AAA said in its weekly gas price update. That’s just two cents higher than a week ago, 29 cents lower than on April 21 and $1.16 below the $4.57 we were paying last Memorial Day.
AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said prices are likely to fluctuate by a few cents here and there throughout the summer travel season. “However, we may have already seen the highest prices of this year, unless a major hurricane affects refinery operations along the gulf coast.”
Prices could dip soon, judging by Tuesday’s near-$3-a-barrel decline in the price of U.S.-drilled crude oil, the major driver of gasoline prices. In mid-afternoon trading, West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $69.73 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The financial website OilPrice.com attributed the decline to traders’ concerns that the U.S. debt ceiling deal announced over the weekend was in jeopardy of being rejected by Congress. Analysts warn that failure to raise the ceiling could have a negative effect on global economic activity, which would reduce demand for oil and gas, analysts warn.
Other factors that have been driving gasoline prices lower in recent weeks include recent declines in manufacturing in China, concerns about further U.S. bank failures, increased production globally, and higher-than-expected oil exports from Russia, according to a May 22 analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which monitors energy prices, supply and demand.
The report projects “relatively moderate” increases in oil and gas prices in coming weeks if OPEC, as expected, cuts production to stabilize the market. The EIA expects oil prices to increase through September before declining over the last three months of 2023.
However, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for price-comparison website GasBuddy.com, noted that Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak “threw cold water” on the notion of additional oil production cuts as that nation’s economy remains in a wartime footing.
Average per-gallon gas prices in South Florida on Tuesday were $3.47 in Broward County, $3.61 in Palm Beach County and $3.49 in Miami-Dade County.
As usual, bargain hunters can find prices well below those averages if they use GasBuddy’s app.
In Broward, the lowest price that didn’t require membership to a wholesale club on Tuesday was $3.09 at Shell, 1901 N. State Road 7, Lauderdale Lakes.
Palm Beach County’s lowest price was $3.15 at two stations in Lake Park: Marathon, 980 Northlake Blvd. and Sunoco, 774 Northlake Blvd.
Miami-Dade drivers could fill up for $3.06 a gallon at Murphy USA, 9203 NW 77th Ave.
And motorists traveling north from South Florida could find even better bargains in the Panhandle, where several stations in Panama City and Callaway were selling for $2.87 a gallon.
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.