Gas prices fall 6 cents in a week
Cost for fuel in Florida drops for nine consecutive days.
Gas prices in Florida continue to decline, but the U.S.-China trade agreement may stall lower prices, according to AAA.
The weekly report from the travel service said the state saw nine consecutive days of falling prices at the pump, dropping 8 cents during that period, and 6 cents week over week. The state average as of Sunday was $2.46 a gallon.
Orange County’s average price per gallon as of Sunday was $2.40, according to AAA.
The price of crude oil, though, jumped Friday to its highest level in three months after the tentative “phase one” trade agreement was announced Friday, which would reduce some U.S. tariffs in exchange for increases by China on purchases of U.S. farm goods.
The rise to $60.07 a barrel is $1 more than last Monday’s prices, which translates usually to a gas price increase of 2.5 cents, AAA said.
“It’s too early to know just how much of an impact this preliminary U.S.-China trade agreement will have on local prices at the pump,” said AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins. “Without it, gas prices would certainly continue falling. Gasoline supplies have grown considerably in the past five weeks, while demand has entered its seasonal slowdown.
“It’s certainly possible these fundamentals outweigh the impacts of the trade agreement, and push gas prices even lower through the end of the year, but if crude prices see significant gains this week, pump prices will reverse course.”
Nationally, Florida is 10 cents lower in price. The state high for the year has been $2.80. The price is still higher than prices one year ago, when gas cost $2.31 a gallon.