The AAA auto club said Florida motorists were paying an average of $3.30 for a gallon of regular unleaded, up 4 cents from Monday and up 25 cents from a month ago.
The national average Tuesday was about $3.33. AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said he doesn’t anticipate prices to decrease in the short term.
“Pump prices may not go much lower this week, thanks to a rebound in oil prices,” Jenkins said in a prepared statement. “Crude prices strengthened last week on various news reports, causing investors to grow optimistic about global fuel demand. First, reports that China is easing COVID-19 restrictions. There’s also hope that the Federal Reserve could slow interest rate hikes, following reports that inflation eased in December.”
Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis, tweeted Monday that demand for gas in the U.S. increased 6.1 percent from the first to second weeks of January.
With AAA saying “fuel prices have ping ponged,” the average Florida price went over the national average on Jan. 1 and dipped below it on Friday.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2023.