Florida gasoline prices rise

File photo

The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Florida was $4.21 on Monday, up about three cents from a week earlier, according to the AAA auto club.

The average was also up about 12 cents from a month earlier. “Oil prices rose last week after the European Union announced plans to phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said in a prepared statement.

“And yet, the oil price gains paled in comparison to what happened with gasoline. Gasoline futures soared to a new record high last week. The increase is attributed to a combination of factors, including steady weekly declines in gasoline supplies and expectations that summer fuel demand will far outpace what we saw last year.”

Florida reached a record high of $4.38 a gallon on March 11. The most-expensive gas in Florida is in the West Palm Beach, Gainesville and Fort Lauderdale markets, while the least-expensive gas is in the Pensacola, Punta Gorda, Melbourne and Fort Myers markets, according to AAA.