Fuel Brief

U.S. DOLLAR CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN AS CRUDE OIL FALLS TO FIVE-WEEK LOW

TAMPA, Fla.(Jan. 31, 2010)—Crude oil fell 13 percent to close Friday at $72.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after reaching a 15-month high of $83.93 on January 11. The U.S. dollar continued to rise in strength against the Euro making commodities, such as crude oil, less attractive to investors.

“It’s very likely we will continue to see prices for both crude oil and retail gasoline decline throughout next week,” said Jessica Brady, public relations specialist, AAA Auto Club South. “The still high unemployment numbers continue to keep demand for crude at a minimum, while supplies continue to rise.”

The national average price of unleaded regular gasoline is $2.67 per gallon and Florida’s average price is $2.72 per gallon, both reflecting a four-cent decrease from last week. Georgia’s average price of $2.55 decreased by seven cents in the past week and Tennessee’s average price today of $2.57 decreased five cents.

CURRENT AND PAST PRICE AVERAGES

Regular Unleaded Gasoline

Current Week Ago Month Ago Year Ago

National:                    $2.674            $2.713             $2.651               $1.855

Florida:                      $2.721            $2.768             $2.677              $1.917

Georgia:                     $2.558            $2.621             $2.528             $1.761

Tennessee:                 $2.572            $2.623             $2.511              $1.731

AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report (fuelgaugereport.com) is updated each day and is the most comprehensive; reflecting actual prices from credit card transactions within the past 24 hours at two-thirds (100,000 stations) of the gasoline stations in the U.S. Its accuracy is unparalleled.

How much are you paying for gasoline taxes in Florida/Georgia/Tennessee? Use this link: http://www.aaasouth.com/acs_news/gas_taxes.asp to find out.