• Average gas prices in Florida are not going up because of the hurricane.
• A 99-day streak of falling gas prices across the U.S. has come to an end.
• Joe Biden told oil and gas companies not to raise prices as the hurricane nears land.

President Joe Biden told oil and gas companies not to raise prices for customers. as Hurricane Ian was about to hit Florida’s southwest coast.

Biden said at the start of a conference on hunger in America on Wednesday, “Do not, I repeat, do not use this as an excuse to raise gas prices or take advantage of the American people.”

Biden said that the hurricane is “no reason” for gas prices to go up, and if that does happen, he will ask the government to find out “if price gouging is going on.”

“The U.S. is looking. Biden added, “The business world should do the right thing.”

There aren’t many signs that average gas prices in Florida have gone up a lot because of the hurricane. AAA said that the average price for gas across the state was just under $3.40 per gallon ($0.87 per litre), which is six-tenths of a cent more than a week ago.

Recently, a 99-day streak of falling gas prices across the country came to an end. The 14-week drop was the longest since 2015. In June, the average price of gas across the country was over $5 a gallon ($1.32 a litre) and over $6 a gallon ($1.59 a litre) in California. This was because the economy was getting better and more people were travelling, which increased demand for gas, and Russia’s war in Ukraine caused oil prices to go up.

Most of the time, the price of gasoline follows the price of crude oil around the world. Since mid-June, both the US benchmark and the international Brent have been falling because of fears of a global recession that would lower demand for energy.

Many people who study energy thought that prices were more likely to go up in the next few months than to go down. But predictions are hard to make because of changes in how people feel about the economy, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and even hurricane season, which always poses a risk to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

As the hurricane got closer to land, it got stronger. Its top winds reached 155 mph (250 kph), which is just below the most dangerous Category 5 level. Florida was hit by strong winds and rain, and forecasters said a storm surge of up to 18 feet could flood the heavily populated Fort Myers area (5.5 meters).

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