Here’s why you’re paying more at the pump, and when prices might level off

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Across Central Florida, drivers are having the same reaction when it’s time to fill up

“It’s like every week it just keeps going up and up,” said Orlando resident Mary Soliman as she filled up her minivan on Monday.

For drivers, the price increase has been sudden. According to AAA, the price of regular unleaded in the Orlando area is at $2.83, up $0.39 since last month, and up $0.75 since last year.

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“The pandemic really caused gas prices to plummet and that was because people were not driving as much, and so now there’s a bump. And that may seem like sticker shock because they are much higher than they were this time last year,” says Mark Jenkins of AAA. “This is just the perfect recipe for rising prices. All the factors are there; we have higher demand and lower crude oil on the foreign market and less gasoline in the domestic market.”

Across the globe, demand for petroleum declined significantly in 2020 as countries implemented lockdown orders to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. With people not driving or flying, demand for gasoline fell and refineries as well as oil producers scaled back.

Complicating matters further, the recent deep freeze along the Gulf Coast shuttered many refineries in Texas and Louisiana. Those refineries, which are now getting back up to speed, supply much of the gasoline for the eastern seaboard including Florida.

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“It’s just the same as a hurricane: A hurricane hits an area and that impacts what we pay at the pump because those refineries are so (necessary) in providing gasoline to us,” says Jenkins.

For drivers, now paying the higher prices, the question becomes how much longer will prices increase before eventually leveling off? AAA says eventually supply will meet demand and prices may even start to come down but more than likely that will not happen until perhaps mid-summer.

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Cox Media Group