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Middle East tensions could raise South Florida gas prices

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — It seems the Middle East is always the wild card when it comes to gasoline prices, sitting there, lurking, waiting to sting the wallets of motorists.

And indeed it seemed poised to do so Monday.

The ongoing conflict between Israeli and Hamas on the Gaza Strip, pushed to the brink of war, lifted the benchmark West Texas intermediate crude oil to its highest price in a month. It settled Monday at $89.28, up $3.36 a barrel.

AAA said gas prices are expected to fall throughout the Thanksgiving holiday, the rate of decrease is expected to slow. And if tensions continue it could reverse the downward trend.
"Whenever violence escalates in the Middle East as it has with Israel and its surrounding countries, oil prices are sure to increase," AAA spokeswoman Jessica Brady said. "The current conflict overseas means motorists may not see gas prices fall as much as recently forecast. Right now, tensions in the Mideast have increased concerns of oil supply disruptions in the region which have the potential to reverse the downward trends in both oil and gas prices.

“In the short term, Thanksgiving travelers shouldn’t see gas prices spike before the holiday, but instead may see prices remain relatively flat.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly report, released Monday, said the national average price for a gallon of regular dropped 2 cents over the past week to $3.429 a gallon.

In Florida, gas averaged $3.297 a gallon, down 3.7 cents, according to EIA.

Of course, gasoline is nowhere near that cheap in South Florida. AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report on Monday showed regular averaging $3.498 a gallon in Palm Beach County, down 4.4 cents. In Broward County, regular averaged $3.46 a gallon, down 3 cents over the week.