FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – South Floridians are reacting to higher pump prices, as the cost of gas continues to rise nationwide amid the conflict in the Middle East.
In Fort Lauderdale, one station has seen prices rise by about 70 cents a gallon in the last 15 days.
Customer Ryan Pratt spoke with 7News on Thursday.
“It’s insane. I was at a light last night, and I saw $4.29 a gallon. I thought, ‘Man, I’m paying more for gas than I am milk, so it’s up there, man,” he said.
These increases are something everyone around the country has felt.
“It’s definitely not the best situation for gas and everything,” said Payton Garofalo.
Garofalo is a Las Vegas native. stopped by the gas station to fill up during his spring break trip to Fort Lauderdale.
He expected gas prices in South Florida to be lower than what he’s accustomed to back home.
“Four bucks, yeah, they’re about pretty similar, 89 and 87 are pretty similar to Las Vegas,” said Garofalo.
As the day turned to night on Thursday, 7News cameras captured the price jumping 10 cents at that gas station from $3.99 around mid-afternoon to $4.09 late into the evening.
Milosh Miletic, who runs a food truck business in Fort Lauderdale, said he’s bracing for higher costs.
“We’re still waiting to see how it’s gonna go ’cause we do probably, like, pay month-to-month ’cause we’re still in a month before when the war didn’t start. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna affect us a lot,” said Miletic.
Miletic said business wasn’t always consistent, even before the war began.
“Well, you know, it’s a roller coaster,” said Miletic.
According to AAA, nationwide, the average price increase over the last month is around 92 cents a gallon. It’s even worse for diesel, with about a $1.33 jump.
“They are horrendous. Even though we have a gas card for the company and everything like this, I just think that the gas prices are way too high, especially in California and other places like that,” said Robert Williams. “For the average person really trying to get out here and get it, I mean, some things we’ve got to cut back on, because the gas is too high.”
“My gas prices have doubled in the past two weeks,” said Pratt.
Nick Shahryari, another customer who stopped to fuel up while visiting Fort Lauderdale, said he’s worried about the ripple effect that higher gas prices could have on other aspects of everyone’s lives.
“I think the bigger issue with gas going up is that everything else becomes more expensive. Your food bill becomes more expensive, your groceries, things like that. I think it’s the rising gas prices that really affect people. I think it’s something that we just have to wait out and be optimistic that things will get better,” said Shahryari.
Experts say the problem is not a shortage, as there is plenty of gas, but much of it is stuck at the Strait of Hormuz, which separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and points beyond.
“We’ve only begun to see the effects of the war. The Strait of Hormuz is basically closed,” said Dr. Craig Austin with Florida International University’s Department of Marketing and Logistics.
Twenty percent of the world’s oil flows through the strait. Because of the war in the Middle East, it is now at a standstill.
“There are over 600 ships in the Strait of Hormuz that are not moving, and so, it would take months to clear that,” said Austin.
While the United States is a net exporter, meaning it produces a lot of oil domestically, economists say that because everything is interconnected globally, there is a worldwide oil price. Everything is tied to that, so prices will likely go higher before they start to decline.
“There is too much fear, too much uncertainty in the market for gases to come down; the volatility of the price is all due to the uncertainty,” said Austin.
That level of uncertainty presents major concerns for businesses like Miletic. In his case, he’s fortunate to operate at a location where he can connect his food truck to an electrical hookup at a food truck lot on State Road 84 and 595, bypassing some of the need for fuel.
Despite that advantage, he acknowledged that the cost of simply doing day-to-day business doesn’t appear to be going down anytime soon.
“Every day that the, let’s say, war lasts longer, I’m less optimistic. The thing with us Serbians is ’cause we, back in ’90s, survived like three wars, war humbles you in a way that you realize that you’re running a business day-to-day, you know, planning things and that’s something like that happens, and everything changes,” said Miletic.
Experts say overcoming uncertainty is one of the biggest hurdles business owners face.
Austin added that even if the war with Iran were to end immediately, it would still take several months for the hundreds of tankers stuck in the Strait of Hormuz to resume normal flows, which would allow global prices to adjust.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox