Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Gas prices peaking as summer heats up
You know those low gas prices we’ve been enjoying the past couple months? The ones that put a few extra dollars in our pockets so we could buy an ice cream cone or go for a Sunday drive?
Well kiss that windfall goodbye for the rest of the summer.
Gas prices are on the rise again and it’s not because a hurricane or Middle Eastern war is pushing up crude oil prices.
Rather, heavy demand from motorists jazzed about low gas prices is pushing prices upward, travel club AAA said in its weekly gas price update.
That’s called market forces. And while they giveth — as when oil drillers flood the market and drive prices down — they also taketh away.
“Consumers saw a sudden swing at the pump last week, as summer demand soars and crude inventories declined,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said. “Gas prices should trend higher through the second half of the summer, and could challenge this year’s high of $2.47 before it’s all over. Fortunately, gas prices will drop after Labor Day, as demand weakens and refiners switch to winterblend gasoline.”
Florida’s average price was at $2.20 on Monday following a 7-cent jump compared to the previous week.
So that’s the bad news. The less-bad news is the price jumps were smaller in South Florida, if largely because South Florida prices run higher than the statewide average.
Broward County’s average price was $2.23 on Monday, four cents more than a week ago. Palm Beach County’s average price was up 5 cents to $2.29. And average prices in Miami-Dade County were up just two cents, to $2.24.
The 7-cent statewide average increase was skewed by wide swings back to normalcy in two metros to our north.
The Orlando metro saw its average price leapfrog from $2.04 to $2.17, while the Tampa area’s average went from $2.01 to $2.16.
A peak at GasBuddy.com’s gas price heat map shows a few lingering bargains around the tricounty region.
In Palm Beach County, a J&A station at South Military Trail and Melaleuca Lane in Lake Worth was at $2.09 while dozens of other stations remained below $2.15.
In Broward County, three stations were competing for your business at $2.05 on Federal Highway south of East Hillsboro Boulevard — a Speedway and Marathon near Southeast 7th Court and another Marathon at Northeast 49th Street.
The lowest prices in Miami-Dade on Monday were along Opa-Locka Boulevard, west of Interstate 95 Two stations were selling for $2.07 — Marathon at Opa-locka Boulevard and Northwest 19th Avenue in North Miami and Westar at Opalocka Boulevard and U.S. 441 in Opa-locka.