Florida gas prices drop, still top $3

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Average gasoline prices in Florida and nationally remained over $3 a gallon as January reached its midpoint, with demand and oil costs holding steady. The AAA auto club said an average gallon of regular unleaded gas cost $3.07 on Tuesday in Florida and nationally. The Florida average was down 8 cents from a week earlier. “I wouldn’t bet the farm on the national average reaching $3 a gallon, even if we are tantalizingly close,” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross said in a prepared statement. “The mid-winter blahs will likely keep pump prices waffling a few cents up and down for the immediate future. But keep an eye on frigid temps because those can affect refinery production, pushing some regional pump prices higher.” The firm GasBuddy, which tracks gas prices, had the national average at $3.04 on Monday and was a little more optimistic about prices slipping under $3 a gallon despite concerns about oil prices because of issues such as volatility in the Middle East. Those issues have included Houthis in Yemen attacking cargo ships and the U.S. and other countries responding. “While last week saw the U.S. attacking Houthi militants engaged in attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, oil prices jumped, but then promptly fell as economic concerns with weak demand sapped the upward move after the U.S. and allies attacked Houthi rebels,” Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis, said in a news release. “Gasoline inventories also saw another large rise, putting some downward pressure on gas prices, and leaving an opportunity for the national average to potentially briefly fall below $3 per gallon.” The lowest prices Tuesday in Florida were $2.81 a gallon in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach area and $2.82 a gallon in the Panama City area. By contrast, the average price in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area was $3.29 a gallon.