Be ready for gas prices to rise again in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida. – The average price of gas in Florida has dropped three cents since the peak of a year that was reached a week ago.

But that relief may be short-lived and you may see another increase in prices soon, experts say.

“Unfortunately, the recent jump in the bomb may not be over yet,” said Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association. “Pump prices could reach $ 2.60 per gallon in the coming weeks, as refineries prepare to switch to summer gasoline. Summer gasoline usually costs more to produce because it contains more additives, which work to reduce pollution during the warmer months. “

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Florida is $ 2.46 on Monday morning. That’s 26 cents more than the average of $ 2.20 in early 2021. The national average price for gas on Monday morning was $ 2.50.

Last Monday, the average price of $ 2.49 in Florida was the highest since January 2020.

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“Although there has been a small decline [this past week], pump prices remain at a level that has not been seen in more than a year, ”said Jenkins, who also pointed out that crude oil reached a new 2021 high of $ 59.47 per barrel, with the closing price of Friday close to $ 3 (5%) more than the previous week.

The good thing is that, although your portfolio may suffer a blow, the increase in prices since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic signals a higher demand and that we may be closer to a return to normal when the vaccines are distributed.

“We shouldn’t always make faces when we see higher prices,” Patrick De Haan, an oil analyst at GasBuddy, told Local 10 News last week. “At least this time, it means that we are recovering as a nation.”

De Haan also said that the increase in gas prices in recent weeks is not linked to President Joe Biden taking over the Oval Office.

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“The price of oil does not depend on who is in the White House. They are a function of the supply and demand economy, ”he said. “This is really simply a recovery from a pandemic that had significant oil demand and now with the recovery in oil demand, prices are going up. That would have happened even if President Trump was still in office, prices would be rising because it is about recovering from the COVID pandemic, not about who is in the White House. “

Locally, South Florida’s gas prices are higher than the state average on Monday morning, according to the AAA:

• $ 2,482 in Miami-Dade County
  

• $ 2,514 in Broward County
  

• $ 2,564 in Monroe County
  

• $ 2,587 in Palm Beach County

For more information on gas prices in Florida, click here.