Posted on 09/13/2008 4:52:12 AM PDT by tobyhill
As Hurricane Ike bore down on one of the world's largest concentrations of oil refineries, workers scrambled to shut down production and join hundreds of thousands of residents evacuating the area.
The resulting spike in gasoline prices could be short-lived if damage is light. But the longer-term impact won’t be known until the storm passes and floodwaters subside.
After high prices forced consumers to find ways to conserve, demand for gasoline has fallen steadily this summer — and prices had been following the same downward trend. But this year’s hurricane season is putting a crimp in supplies that has sent pump prices surging again.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
well when all our eggs are in the gulf basket, all it takes is one good storm. We need ANWAR drilling too!
Didja really think ya could beat city hall???
Semper Screwed
Gas jumped .45 in my neck of the woods overnight.
I filled both of my trucks @ 3.52 early yesterday morning. Gas was 3.99 last night.
Higher prices means even less demand for gas. In the end prices will trend even lower.
Poor Democrats . The Hits just keep on coming.
It’s the gready Corporations and Karl Rove/Bush making hurricanes hit poor areas. So they can help the oil campanies make more money!!
Many gas stations in upstate South Carolina were closed and were telling customers they would have no more gas for another week.
Its time to pen up ANWR and drill off of the west coast.
Drill Here! Drill Now!
Pure and simple supply and demand. If 20% of our supply comes from one vulnerable source it stands to reason the price will jump 20% if the source is threatened. We need diversity in supply, like Anwar and offshore. The dems are sorely lacking in even the most basic economic rules.
For purposes of national security, we need to encourage the expansion and development of new refineries that are distributed throughout the U.S. in order to reduce the impact of having so much of this capacity concentrated in one area.
I’m in northwestern North Carolina. I filled up my car on Thursday evening, because I needed to fill up, and paid $3.56 per gallon. The rumors were flying about an increase, but they always do when a hurricane is in the gulf, just like they did a week before and prices continued to fall, despite all the talk.
But, for some reason, the rumors took hold this time, at least around here. On Friday morning, there was no change in price from the day before. But, by midmorning, people began lining up. By late morning, there were stations that had run out of everything but premium. My own mother had a scare while visiting my sister in Mocksville, NC ... no gas anywhere, finally found premium for $4.29, and this was at 11:00 AM. Prices began to run up, worse in the rural areas and small towns. Gas price in Biscoe, NC was $5.99 before nightfall.
But, last night, in Greensboro, I noticed that there were stations back at the same price as the day before, $3.69. I thought they might be out of gas, and just hadn’t changed their price sign as a result, but there were cars at the pumps, so that must not have been the case.
It was quite the panic, lines at every station after 5:00 PM, but strangely enough, the panic seems to have subsided as quickly as it arose. I haven’t been out yet today, to see what’s going on, but that was my impression last night.
It’s generally a good idea to fill up whenever a hurricane is heading into the gulf, and top off whenever you have less than 2/3 of a tank until it passes.
Nearly everywhere here in the Raleigh area is $5+ a gallon. I have seen $5.99. And thats if you can find gas.
Glad I filled up at $3.37 yesterday. I was wondering why there was so much traffic at the Costco fuel station.
$3.99-$4.19 here in Montgomery this morning. Alabama Gov instituted Emergency Anti-gouging laws yesterday, so all the stations that “tried” to raise thier prices $1.50-$2.00 a gallon yesterday afternoon are “magically” back down to .30-.40 a gallon raise this morning.
Go to Glen Reynolds site, Instapundit, to find out why your prices are going up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.