Gasoline prices in Florida are up amid rising global oil prices, increasing 4 cents over the past week to an average of $3.50 a gallon on Monday.
The state’s average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas was 3 cents lower than the national average, according to data from the AAA auto club.
Average prices in Florida ranged from $3.24 in the Panama City area to $3.71 in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area.
AAA noted that demand for gas nationally decreased during the past week, which typically would contribute to lower prices or a slower increase. But that wasn’t enough to offset rising global oil prices after drone attacks on Russian refineries and the reduced possibility of near-term peace in the war between Israel and Hamas.
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Meanwhile, the industry continues converting to the more-expensive summer blend of gasoline, and refineries have undergone scheduled maintenance.
Florida’s average price Monday was 11 cents a gallon higher than a year ago.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, expects the increased price trend could break in the coming weeks.
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“The madness should slow down in the next few weeks as we’ve seen positive data that refinery output is starting to increase, a sign that the peak of maintenance season could be behind us,” De Haan said in a blog.
