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Gas Prices Rising Because Of Texas Storm

gas nozzle in tank of car

Gasoline prices in the area are starting to move higher because of the storm that's dumping huge amounts of rain in Texas.

Patrick DeHaan is a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy-dot-com. He says refinery shutdowns on the Gulf Coast because of Hurricane Harvey are curtailing the supply of gasoline.

"I would expect gas prices would rise anywhere from 5 to 15 cents a gallon, perhaps even higher, over the next one to one-and-a-half weeks or so. It could go as high as 10 to 25 cents a gallon, maybe even 15 to 30 cents a gallon in kind of the worst-case scenario."

DeHaan says 16 percent of U.S. refining capacity is down because of the storm.

“It could be weeks before logistics get sorted out in the Gulf Coast as the ship channel remains shut in Houston. You’re talking about pipelines that have ceased operations for the time being. This is a major disruption and it’s likely to impact gas prices for the next couple of weeks, if not longer.”