Price of gas could spike — ‘Fill up now’

Orlando area gas prices are poised for another spike as tensions about the Iran nuclear deal and tightening global supplies sent oil to a three-year high.

Oil prices rose above $70 a barrel in Monday trading for the first time in three years. Gasoline prices in the Orlando area have dropped 2.6 cents in the past week but are likely to increase in the coming days, analysts said.

Oil prices have not traded above $70 a barrel since late 2014, about the same time that the United States had gasoline selling above $3 a gallon on average.

On Monday morning, the average price for regular unleaded in Orlando was $2.64 a gallon, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge. But the price was as low as $2.53 at many stations across the area.

“It’s probably a good idea to fill up now and be safe,” said Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for AAA.

The latest wrinkle in global fuel prices comes as the Trump Administration nears a self-imposed deadline of Saturday to deal with Iran and its nuclear program. If the White House follows through on canceling the deal and imposing new sanctions, it could remove as many as a million barrels a day from the global market.

The global fuel market is already tighter with improving economies, OPEC production cuts and economic struggles in Venezuela hurting its oil industry.

“Presidents usually don’t have much control over gas prices, but this may be a situation where Trump’s rhetoric is spooking the market,” said Patrick DeHaan, analyst at GasBuddy. “The market is looking for any subtle hints as to what will happen. If [Trump] kills the Iran deal and places sanctions, we will probably see up to $75 a barrel for oil.”

This season’s higher gas prices has people such as Tina Peacock of Clermont rethinking driving habits.

“If we are making a long trip, we try to take the Toyota [Corolla] instead of the SUV,” said Peacock, a schoolteacher, while fueling her Nissan Armada at a Winter Park Wawa on Monday afternoon. “We were thinking about trading down for a smaller car, but we just paid this one off.”

It now costs Peacock about $60 for a full tank.

Local gasoline prices are still lower than last fall, but those spikes were caused by refining and delivery constraints after hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Sanctions on Iran could put gas prices as high as $3 a gallon this summer, DeHaan said.

This latest round of increases is caused by international tension, the kind of oil-moving tensions the U.S. hasn’t seen for six or seven years.

“Supplies have been high enough and demand low enough that you have to look back to 2011 or so when something like this caused issues,” DeHaan said.