Hurricane Harvey Causing Insane Gas Increase
As Hurricane Harvey continues to ravage the states of Texas and Louisiana, the United States is also beginning to suffer another hard fate: high gas prices. With over a dozen oil refineries in the Houston being shut down by the middle of the week, prices of gasoline are already on the rise. From USA Today, the national average of gasoline was as high as $2.43 by Wednesday. This is up seven cents from a week ago, and many are believing that this is not the end of it. Natural disasters have affected the economy before (as seen from Hurricane Ike), as prices of gasoline seem to rise when in the ‘disaster zone,’ according to The Energy Collective.
This may slightly put a damper on any Labor Day plans however that is not likely. Many will argue that this minor dilemma is not even close to as painful as 2008 when gas prices were over four dollars a gallon. However, this becomes more on an issue as it now has a quarter of the United State’s oil refining business is now incapable of proper function. However, a few of the facilities along Corpus Christi do have plans to reopen sometime in the upcoming week. Despite these facts, Patrick DeHaan, an analyst from GasBuddy.com is positive that issues with increasing gas prices are going to continue; DeHaan directly said that “the availability of supplies will depend on damage that may have occurred because of the storm…at the same time, the United States’ natural gas and oil infrastructure is large, geographically diverse and integrated into the larger global market. While typical supply patterns may be disrupted, alternate paths may be available.” Where this gas price increase may be a problem for some, it is nothing to worry about at this exact moment.
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