Florida gas prices dip, unaffected by breach

Gasoline prices in Metro Orlando have dropped 13 cents during the last month, to $2.07 Tuesday morning, as prices here were unaffected by the Colonial Pipeline breach in Alabama that created a fuel shortage in several southern states this month.

Travel club AAA reported that the price of a gallon of unleaded gas shot up 28 cents in Georgia and 17 cents in Tennessee during the 12-day shutdown to one of the lines. Six states were affected, but not Florida, where gas arrives via water-borne tankers from Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The pipeline reopened last Wednesday, and prices have begun dropping in the affected states, AAA said.

“The reduction in pump prices are a good sign that supplies are reaching the areas most affected by the outage,” said AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins. “It could take a couple of weeks, but prices should eventually return to levels seen before the leak, then fall in line with other states as they follow a downward trend through the rest of the year.”

Florida’s average price on Tuesday, $2.14, was 9 cents lower than a month ago, when retailers were getting ready for Labor Day weekend, and just three-tenths of a cent more than a year ago, AAA figures show. Gas prices typically decline in fall, because demand declines with the end of the summer vacation season, and refineries switch to a less-expensive winter blend of fuel.

Nationally, the average price of $2.21 is 14 cents higher than Metro Orlando’s, also having remained steady during the pipeline outage in the South. Nationally, prices are down 8 cents compared to a year ago. Five states have average prices below $2 a gallon: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Texas. The Lone Star State leads the way at $1.95.