Gas prices jumped 15 cents per gallon last week in Florida last week — thank an influx of spring breakers for that — but relief may soon be on the way, a report from AAA said this week.
Monday morning, the state average for regular unleaded was $3.45 per gallon. That's 13 cents less than this year's high of $3.58 per gallon. (Visit gasprices.AAA.com to view daily average gas prices, broken down by county and major city market.)
To show the volatility of the local gas market, regular unleaded in Osceola County averaged just over $3.45 per gallon on Monday. That's down a penny from the weekend, but:
- Up 18.5 cents from last week
- Up 27 cents from a month ago, when some retail outlets showed $2.99 gas on their marquees
- Down 65 cents from a year ago, when prices over $4 per gallon were the norm.
But, like AAA said, relief is likely on the way.
"There were significant losses in the oil market last week which should enable gas prices to move lower again," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. "The failure of two U.S. banks raised concerns of a global recession that could eventually hamper fuel demand."
The U.S. price of oil dropped 13% last week, for a total loss of 17% over two weeks. Friday's mark of $66.74 per barrel was the lowest since December 2021. Interestingly, the gasoline market did not take quite as big of a hit, likely because strong springtime demand coupled with refinery maintenance season and the switch to summer gasoline blends is serving as somewhat of a buoy. Regardless, gasoline futures dropped 24 cents through the past two weeks, which is an indicator that pump prices should move lower, unless fundamentals rebound this week.
Information from AAA's Gas Prices module was used in this report.
