Gas is rising

More hikes if crude climbs

Naughty, not nice, at the pumps.

Florida motorists are paying significantly more at the pump for a gallon of regular unleaded this week than they paid during Thanksgiving week just a month ago, and prices in the state are running seven cents higher than the national average, travel club AAA said.

Motorists in Florida were paying an average $2.10 on Nov. 21, the Monday before Thanksgiving and $2.09 on Nov. 27, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Then, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Nations decided to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day and prices for crude oil and gasoline immediately spiked. A couple weeks later, prices spiked again after non-OPEC members — led by Russia — also agreed to cut output. The total production cut from the two agreements, if they hold, would be 1.8 million barrels a day, AAA said.

While price increases have stabilized since Friday, West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $52.23 a barrel on the U.S. Mercantile Exchange Tuesday. That’s a far cry from its 12-month low of $26.21 on Feb. 11 or even its $43.32 closing price on Nov. 14.

And a gallon of unleaded regular on Tuesday was averaging $2.25 in the U.S. and $2.32 in Florida. Prices in Florida shot up by 10 cents over three days last week.

You probably know what that means for South Florida, where local taxes keep gas prices higher.

That’s right, higher gas prices: Averages of $2.38 a gallon in Broward County, $2.42 in Palm Beach County and $2.37 in Miami-Dade County.

Travelers are finding the highest holiday gas prices in two to three years and they are likely to go higher if crude prices resume climbing, AAA said in a news release.

“It is kind of unusual” that Florida prices were trending so much higher than that national average, AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said Tuesday. “I would have to say it’s due to increased demand with vacationers and snowbirds heading down there. Anytime you’ve got high demand you can put a strain on supply and cause gas prices to rise.”

Plus, wholesale distributors, perhaps anticipating increased demand, raised prices 6 cents a gallon in the state last week, Jenkins said.

Motorists looking for a break on the price-comparison website gasbuddy.com won’t be finding anything starting with the number 1 like they could a few weeks ago.

The lowest price in Palm Beach County was $2.15 at Mobil at South Dixie Highway and Forest Hill Boulevard in West Palm Beach.

JULIO CORTEZ/AP Gas here is seven cents more than the U.S. average.