The average retail price of regular gasoline in Florida has stayed relatively stable in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, according to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), remaining flat at $3.04 per gallon this week, as supply chains began to recover. In the United States overall, the average retail gasoline price was $3.17 per gallon, a 1% increase compared with last week.
Milton made landfall on Florida’s western coast on Oct. 9. The hurricane and accompanying rain, winds and flooding disrupted key gasoline supply chains to the state, leaving hundreds of retail gas stations without fuel.
During the emergency, mobile fuel price app GasBuddy activated its Fuel Availability Tracker in the state to assist motorists and residents looking for fuel. The Dallas-based company has been posting updates as the storm progressed and in its aftermath.
As of 12:08 p.m. ET on Oct. 17, the tracker showed 11.7% out of a total of 7,915 gas stations statewide were without fuel, from a high of 29.86% on Oct. 11 at 1:32 p.m. ET.
Price spikes in response to shortages at individual stations contributed to sharp increases at specific locations, which are reflected in statewide average prices, said EIA. To help address these shortages, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) procured and deployed emergency fuels. On Oct. 15, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office reported that FDEM deployed 508,600 gallons of diesel and 686,200 gallons of gasoline and that public fuel distribution sites were open at several locations.
Hurricanes limit fuel supplies in Florida because the state does not have refineries or gasoline pipelines connecting it to other states with excess supply, said EIA. Florida relies on gasoline delivered by ship from domestic and international sources. Because of the storm, several ports were temporarily closed, but others remained open with restrictions. Authorities at Port Tampa Bay, where nearly half of Florida’s petroleum product supply is brought in, reported no significant damage to docks, but they noted infrastructure damage, power outages and road closures that could disrupt supply.
Shipments from domestic refineries along the Gulf Coast, supplemented with imports from abroad, supply most of Florida, EIA said. Florida’s gasoline arrives through several large ports located along its coastlines, each transporting fuel to nearby markets by truck or short-distance pipeline. The regions and their respective mode of transporting gasoline is as follows:
Western Florida: trucked from terminals in Port Tampa Bay
Southern Florida: trucked from terminals in Port Everglades, just north of Fort Lauderdale
Central Florida: transported by pipelines from Tampa, but some petroleum products trucked from Port Canaveral on the Atlantic Coast
Northeastern Florida: trucked from terminals in the Port of Jacksonville
Some gasoline shipments arrive in Florida by both pipeline and truck. At a terminal in Bainbridge, Georgia, gasoline is transferred from the Colonial Pipeline system to a long-distance tanker truck for delivery to the Florida panhandle. Trucks and barges from nearby refineries in Alabama and Mississippi supply the rest of western Florida.
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