Gas prices rise 15 cents following fuel distribution crisis in South Florida

PORT EVERGLADES, Fla. – Gasoline costs rose throughout a lot of the state of Florida final week following historic flooding in South Florida that led to quite a few gasoline terminals being out of operation at Port Everglades, AAA reported Monday.

The flooding led to the terminals’ pumps being inundated with water, so whereas there wasn’t a gasoline scarcity, there was a serious distribution problem, requiring the reallocation of gas provides from different areas.

“The issue started greater than every week in the past when flooding prevented gas vehicles from accessing the gasoline terminals at Port Everglades,” AAA reported in a information launch. “This was a serious drawback, since that port is a hub for almost all of gasoline for filling stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Seashore. To offset the scarcity, gasoline was introduced in from different states and pushed down from hubs in Tampa, Orlando, Port Canaveral, and Jacksonville.”

All gasoline terminals at Port Everglades had been reopened by Friday night, however gasoline costs rose double digits in these metro areas, “seemingly on account of having much less provide than anticipated,” in accordance with AAA.

The nationwide common value for gasoline remained unchanged from final week whereas Florida’s state common jumped 15 cents per gallon.

On Friday, the state common hit $3.72 per gallon, which was a brand new 2023 excessive and the costliest day by day common value since August 2022.

“There may be cause to be optimistic that gasoline costs gained’t cling round these highs for lengthy,” mentioned Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Membership Group. “Oil costs dropped to a 3-week low and gasoline costs started drifting decrease by the weekend. There’s hope that the upward stress on pump costs will start to ease as provides stabilize across the state.”

The costliest metro markets are at present West Palm Seashore-Boca Raton ($3.88), Port St. Lucie ($3.77), and Naples ($3.77). The least costly metro markets are Crestview-Fort Walton Seashore ($3.38), Pensacola ($3.39), and Panama Metropolis ($3.40).