The cost of a gallon of gas in Florida shot back up over the last week or so, according to a new report from AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins. Prices are still teetering up and down between $3.00 and $4.00, leading Floridians to wonder if oil companies are establishing a new permanent norm.
The statewide average cost of a gallon of gas as of Tuesday was $3.54 a gallon, the highest the figure has been in weeks. Just last Sunday the average price was $3.28. A month ago, $3.39. One year ago, $4.43.
As economic pundits widely agree that the supply chain crisis of 2022 has mostly subsided, many Florida motorists scratch their heads each time they fill up at the pump over who’s responsible for continually astronomical prices – modestly lower than their near-five-dollar peak last year.
The primary target for blame during a gas price crisis is usually the governing party; President George W. Bush took heavy criticism for the cost of gas during the Great Recession and President Joe Biden is meeting similar derision in the modern day. But gas prices are affected most directly by OPEC, an intergovernmental organization who sets the cost of a barrel of oil based on speculative supply and demand data.
Still, Jenkins assured Floridians that even as prices continue to stay high, some fair relief should be expected as summer travel cools down. “Last week’s jump at the pump came immediately after Independence Day, when AAA forecast a record number of Floridians would take a road trip for the holiday,” he said. “Fortunately, oil prices remain low. Unless that changes this week, the upward pressure on gas prices should ease soon.”
Chris Gollon is a Flagler County resident since 2004, as well as a staple of the local independent music scene and avid observer of Central Florida politics, arts, and recreation.
TR
July 13, 2023 at 10:13 pm
It’s all BS if you ask me. During the Trump years gas prices were down under 2.00 a gallon. Then the Pandemic came and prices have gone up and down ever since. The economy is in the toilet, the world is all chaotic and no one will tell the truth as to what’s going on and why. Excuse after excuse and yet big corporation across the world makes record profit so the all mighty people in control of said business can continue to live the luxury life styles when everyone else has to scrape pennies together to feed their families. The world is going to shit fast and there is no turning back and try to save it. The leaders are just going through the motions to make it look like they are trying, but in reality it’s getting worse by the day.
Good luck everyone and God Bless you.