Gas pumps
Published on August 7, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Add this to the hazards of our unbearable heat: the highest gasoline prices in a year.
The average gas price in Florida reached $3.84 per gallon Friday, 18 cents higher than the week before and the highest level since August of last year, according to the AAA auto club.
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One reason is that extreme temperatures on the Gulf Coast have kept refineries from operating at full capacity.
Refineries generate incredible heat. When outside temperatures exceed 100 degrees, that can cause breakdowns and equipment failures, as well as rolling electrical outages and severe weather. AAA says.
Aside from the heat, rising oil prices globally have pushed gas prices higher. About half the price per gallon of gasoline is influenced by oil prices.
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The price of crude oil has risen for six straight weeks, closing at nearly $83 per barrel Friday before giving up some ground in trading early Monday, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
The average gas price in Jacksonville stood a $3.82 for a gallon of regular on Monday, compared with $3.75 a year ago, AAA said. The highest recorded price on record was $4.88 on June 13, 2022.
AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said gas prices could fall as the heat breaks and as students return to school, which reduces demand from the summer travel season.
The pace of increases has started to slow over the last few days and, for now, appears to have hit a peak over the weekend and is beginning to gently fall, De Haan wrote Monday on his blog.
But one major wild card could drive prices up again, Jenkins said — the peak of hurricane season.
The majority of Florida’s gasoline is supplied by refineries along the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines. “Gas prices could spike just based on the mere threat of a hurricane making landfall in this region,” Jenkins said.
How high prices would go — and for how long — would depend on whether refineries were damaged.
