Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Drivers get price break on gas
Florida’s average price expected to drop to $2.45 by Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Day motorists will get a price break on more than big-screen TVs and fancy new smartphones this holiday week.
Gasoline prices in Florida have fallen to their lowest point since January, and are forecast to be lowest on Thanksgiving Day since 2016, according to travel club AAA.
The price for a gallon of regular unleaded averaged $2.48 on Tuesday — 7 cents lower than a week ago and 28 cents lower than a month ago, AAA said.
The reason: Plummeting prices for crude oil due to strong production and global supplies combined with weakening demand. The U.S. benchmark for crude oil dropped to $55.69 last week, about $20 less than the year’s high, which was hit only about a month earlier.
Florida’s average price should drop to $2.45 by Thanksgiving and eventually down to $2.35, AAA said. It might begin to increase again in December if OPEC nations cut production to stabilize the market while the Trump administration’s sanctions against Iran further reduce supplies.
In South Florida, where the cost of doing business keeps prices higher than the rest of the state, a gallon of gas on Tuesday averaged $2.56 in Broward County, $2.65 in Miami-Dade County and $2.64 in Palm Beach County. Still, bargain hunters could find much lower prices in the tricounty region if they look hard enough, or use the price-comparison app and website GasBuddy.com.
Residents traveling north for the holiday should find even better news. Prices averaged $2.34 in the Orlando area, $2.31 in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region, and $2.38 in Jacksonville.
Although some gas stations are dropping prices below $2 in states with low gas taxes, including Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama, AAA said we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for prices to fall that low in Florida. Oil prices would have to fall another $10 to $15 a barrel before prices under $2 a gallon would become commonplace, AAA said.