The AAA auto club said Florida’s average price was $2.995 a gallon. That was down nearly 9 cents from a week earlier and about a dime cheaper than the national average. The last time Florida dipped below $3 a gallon was in August 2021.
Its average price hit a peak of $4.89 on June 13. But Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis with the fuel-savings app GasBuddy, noted Wednesday that a recent increase in crude-oil prices could end a five-week drop in pump prices.
“We’ve seen a bounce in oil prices and wholesale gas prices,” De Haan said on Twitter. “We’re basically close to the bottom and rising in some areas.”
The lowest average prices in Florida were in the Pensacola and Panama City areas, at $2.81 a gallon. Sarasota, Daytona Beach, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Orlando, Port St. Lucie, Tampa and The Villages were all below $3. The highest averages were in the West Palm Beach area, at $3.21; Gainesville, at $3.14; Miami, at $3.12; and Naples, at $3.07.