Heat making you miserable? Here’s another thing to be miserable about: Gas prices in Florida are up 41 cents a gallon since the July Fourth weekend, and record-breaking summer heat is playing a role in the surge.
According to travel club AAA’s weekly Gas Price Update, the average cost of unleaded regular in Florida reached $3.67 a gallon on Friday, the highest daily average since April. On July 4, the average price had fallen to $3.26.
Experts blame higher oil prices and heat-induced fuel refinery outages along the Gulf Coast. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fuel refineries operated at 93.3% of capacity last week. That’s down 1.5 percentage points from the previous week and notably lower than the 97% rate refineries operated at last year.
According to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the price-comparison website GasBuddy.com, the outages impacted some of the largest refineries in the country as summer gasoline demand peaked. As a result, gasoline inventories dropped to their lowest July level since 2015, De Haan said.
Oil prices also rose 15% over the past five weeks amid production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia and signs that the United States will avoid “broad recession” in the near future, De Haan said. Economic gains typically increase demand for oil, and traders pushed the price of a barrel of U.S.-produced crude oil above $80 last week, where it remained in midday trading Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
De Haan sees the pace of gasoline price hikes slowing this week but cautions that the upcoming peak of hurricane season “could easily” find average gas prices above $4 per gallon for the first time this year.
“Drivers may want to brace for potentially higher prices yet,” he said.
In most of South Florida, gas prices were higher than the state average, due to the higher cost of doing business here.
Gas prices on Monday averaged $3.70 in Broward County, $3.79 in Palm Beach County and $3.65 in Miami-Dade County, according to AAA’s tally.
But intrepid drivers never pay the average gas price. They can use the GasBuddy app to find lower prices.
In Miami-Dade, motorists could find gas for $3.17 at three stations in Kendale Lakes: Orion Fuels, 13960 SW 56th St.; Chevron, 14700 SW 56th St., and Shell, 14699 SW 56th St.
Three stations in Palm Beach County were selling at $3.29 a gallon: Chevron at 819 Northlake Blvd. and Shell at 9009 Prosperity Farms Road, both in North Palm Beach, and Marathon at 980 Northlake Blvd., Lake Park.
Broward County’s lowest price was $3.34 at Marathon at 10295 Stirling Road in Cooper City.
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.