Tropical Storm Isaac shut down nearly a dozen refineries in the Gulf of Mexico earlier in the week, choking gasoline supplies and leading to a sharp spike in local gas prices.
YOUNGSTOWN
Gas prices jumped sharply across Ohio and other parts of the country overnight Tuesday as Hurricane Isaac made landfall in southeastern Louisiana.
The hurricane shut down nearly a dozen refineries along the Gulf Coast and choked supplies in the process.
On Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline was $3.76, according to an Ohio survey from auto club AAA, the oil price information service and Wright Express. By Wednesday, prices were averaging $3.89 per gallon across the state, with prices reaching as high as $3.95 and holding in some areas, about a 20-cent hike in less than a day.
“I can tell you there’s problems in the Great Lakes region,” said Gregg Laskoski, a national senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com. “Everyone’s accessing fuel from different suppliers. Infrastructure issues diminish supplies, and when consumer demand remains the same, it creates immediate problems with pricing.”
Isaac prompted a series of federal guidelines that require oil rigs to evacuate personnel. Laskoski said he doesn’t anticipate the price increase to last long.
“These refineries will get back to work quickly — within a week’s time,” he said. “But it’s not like a mom-and-pop store where you simply turn the lights back on. It’s an extensive process that takes time, and worst-case scenario could be two weeks.”
Coupled with the hurricane, other issues including a ruptured pipeline in Wisconsin and a fire earlier this month at a refinery in Venezuela have helped drive wholesale gasoline prices up from $2.90 to $3.30.
Though price gouging is considered illegal, Laskoski said laws in most states do little to curtail soaring gas prices.
“Unfortunately, under these circumstances, this is the norm,” he added. “Price-gouging laws are worthless in most states, and they really don’t exist until a state of emergency is declared.”
Nationally, gasoline prices were averaging $3.80 Wednesday, according to AAA, up 5 cents from Tuesday.
Before the storm, prices already were up in Ohio by 27 cents from where they stood last month. As the hurricane weakens and moves inland, it is expected to bring rain and wind toward the state during Labor Day weekend, and if prices at the pump stay high, the combination could hamper holiday plans for some travelers.
“The weather isn’t going to do us any good,” said Cleveland-based economist George Zeller. “And higher gas prices in the long run could mean more inflation, and with lower wages that could put downward pressure on spending this weekend. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
At Conroy’s Express on Market Street in Youngstown, a gallon of regular-grade gasoline went from $3.79 Tuesday to $3.89 Wednesday. Late Tuesday night, further up the road in Boardman, at the Shell station on Market Street and Shields Road, regular grade had jumped to $3.95 while premium grade was $4.07.
“We haven’t seen anything drastic,” said Conroy’s Express manager Matt Westhead as he discussed his customers’ reactions to the soaring prices. “People have been playfully joking around; they really can’t do anything about it.”
Comments
Switch to natural gas now as fast as we can
Nothing but excuses to raise the prices.
"Though price gouging is considered illegal, Laskoski said laws in most states do little to curtail soaring gas prices""".
Something needs to be done with that.
"“These refineries will get back to work quickly — within a week’s time,” he said. “But it’s not like a mom-and-pop store where you simply turn the lights back on. It’s an extensive process that takes time"
Really? They can apparently just run away with minimal time and effort, but they can't get back running for two weeks? Something smells funny.
And all that doubletalk from the GasBuddy guy - normally, when demand is the same and there are multiple suppliers offering their product, the price goes DOWN. The only way it can go up is if someone's rigging the prices.
There are a lot of reasons for the high gas prices. My #1 reason is the way oil companies merged, Exxon and Mobil, BP bought out Sohio and then Amoco, two american oil companies. Damn that Johnny Bull. The list goes on. Less competition. Then these oil companies sell off the gas stations to small oil companies so the majors only control the supply and cost. They need broken up again.Where's Obama? We need a new president this November. This dope we have can care less what the price is. He'd like to see it at $5 a gallon. We're at $4 now, some places are already at $5 (W.Covina California). If you don't like Romney then don't vote at all.
That's what happens when America decides to build its transportation system around personal automobiles and cut budgets for public transit systems.
This article made me laugh. I live in the South and all we have been hearing from the oil refineries is that hurricane has done nothing to impact oil production and transport, including shutting down refineries. This is a crock.
Aztek thanks for confirmation Any excuse to raise prices. Another example of manipulating the market, food prices are soaring due to a drought but we are still using grain from last year. It is called screw the consumer.
Natural gas fans we would already been using it if they wanted it. 857 is correct if the cars ran on air.... Don't you folks recall how ethanol was going to free us and solve all the problems-come on.
Substitute "be" for "been" in the last post.
While Asia and Europe pays $17 for natural gas, fracking brought the price of NG down to less than $3 here in the US. Damn right we ned to build CNG vehicles, 50% cheaper than petro and 50% less carbon. But we have been dumbed down so long, it will take Toyota, Volvo or Honda to grab the market before we do.
Start using natural gas for autos and it won't be $3 here for long. Isn't big oil involved in fracking? The more carbon the greener the garden.