AAA released a new report on Sunday showing the average gallon of gas in Florida cost $2.83 at the start of the week, down a penny from the start of last week.
“Gas prices have held relatively steady through the first half of April,” said Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for AAA and the Auto Club Group. “However, some upward pressure appears to be moving back into the market, which could affect prices at the pump. Oil prices jumped 6 percent last week, in hopes that demand will continue to grow due to increased COVID-19 vaccinations, lower jobless claims in the U.S. and rising consumer sentiment.”
Across the nation, the average gallon of gas cost $2.87 on Sunday, up a penny from the start of last week.
The price of U.S. crude oil bounced back up to $63 per barrel this week, after trading at around $59/b the week before. The highest daily price for U.S. crude oil this year has been $66.09/b.
The state average price for gasoline remains about 8 cents less than the highest price so far this year ($2.91). Sunday’s price is 5 cents more than what drivers paid this time two years ago. This time in 2020, gas prices averaged $1.82 per gallon because the pandemic severely deteriorated driving demand.
Although U.S. gasoline demand has shown significant improvement compared to last year, it remains below pre-pandemic levels. The latest demand figures from the EIA shows a 76 percent improvement from this time last year. However, current demand numbers are 5 percent below this same time in 2019.
The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area had the most expensive gas in the state at $2.96 a gallon, followed by Tallahassee and Panama City at $2.90 a gallon.
Punta Gorda had the least expensive gas in the state at $2.75 a gallon, followed by Jacksonville at $2.76 a gallon and Orlando at $2.77 a gallon.
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