The average gas price in Florida is lower than it’s been in more than two years, and experts say it will continue to drop. An abundance of oil and changes in driving patterns are helping the decline.
At about $3.20 per gallon, Florida is seeing the lowest price in regular-grade gasoline since July of 2012. Traditionally, gas costs drop slightly as summer travel comes to an end and consumers settle into the school year. But spokesman for AAA’s Florida division, Mark Jenkins, says more factors are contributing to declining prices.
“First of all, domestic and global oil supplies are soaring right now," Jenkins says. "They’re actually at their highest levels in 30 years, so the United States is pumping out a lot of oil. And then oil prices themselves, they sank below $90 a barrel since April 2013.”
Jenkins says an oversupply of oil driven by increased domestic production is so great that it’s difficult to tell whether gas prices will rise in the spring, when consumer demand usually increases. Right now, Florida is continuing to see gas prices drop by 1-to-2 cents per day. Jenkins says AAA predicts gas will fall below $3 by the end of the year, a low the state hasn’t reached since the beginning of 2011.
