$3 gasoline? Analysts say it’s possible
Prices reach three-year-high in Florida
The price of a gallon of gas reached a three-year high last week and is poised to climb even higher in the next couple of weeks, thanks to rising oil prices and seasonal trends.
How much higher? How does $3 a gallon sound?
The average price in Florida reached $2.73 on Thursday — the highest since December 2014 — then rose another penny over the weekend to $2.74. That’s 11 cents more than a week ago, according to travel club AAA.
South Florida’s averages were even higher Monday — $2.80 in Broward County, $2.79 in Miami-Dade County and $2.87 in Palm Beach County.
Monday’s national average was $2.76 — up a nickel from the previous week and two cents more than Florida’s average.
Rising oil prices are the main culprit. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude reached $69.42 on Thursday before slipping
below $68 to end the week. On Monday, the price closed at $68.92 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Other factors include a lower supply while Gulf Coast refineries wrap up their seasonal switch to summer gasoline blends, plus the annual price pressure that accompanies increased summer driving.
Analysts think higher gas prices are back for the foreseeable future.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for the price-comparison website and app GasBuddy.com, noted a new record for U.S. demand was set last week — an “ominous” sign for prices if that demand is sustained over the next few weeks.
Oil-producing countries, meanwhile, are proving “remarkably successful in better aligning supply to demand, draining the crude oil glut and pushing oil prices to their highest levels since 2014,” DeHaan said.
“All signs point to some additional upward movement before prices peak and perhaps drop slightly around Memorial Day into the month of June — all certainly contingent and subject to any changes from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries).”
Speaking to CNBC, Tom Kloza, a global energy analyst at Oil Price Information Service, said half of U.S. states could see prices reach $3, while another consultant said a U.S. average of $2.90 was possible.
AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said prices should hit their annual peak over the next couple of weeks but could surge beyond that due to unforeseen circumstances “like escalating geopolitical tensions or a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.”
So where are the local bargains? GasBuddy’s spotters reported two 7-Eleven stations offering $2.57 a gallon — one near the intersection of Northeast Fourth Avenue and 16th Street in Fort Lauderdale, and the other at Northeast 26th Street and 15th Avenue in Wilton Manors. A Valero station across the street from the Wilton Manors 7-Eleven had the same price, as did a Chevron at 2425 Wilton Drive, also in Wilton Manors.
In Palm Beach County, $2.66 was the lowest available price, at a Valero station on Lake Worth Road at Interstate 95 in Lake Worth. In Miami-Dade, the lowest price was $2.59 along Hialeah Drive and Northwest 37th Avenue.