Hurricane Harvey has caused not only the state of Texas's gas prices to go up but the U.S. as a whole is now being effected. Gas prices in Texas have reached in some places 8$ a gallon while the rest of the country has seen gas prices up around the $2.45 area. Which is a 10 cent increase in the last week. On Monday the U.S. information administration reported the average gas price of $2.40 which is up 16 cents from last year at the same time. Eight refineries in the Texas gulf coast have been shut down due to hurricane Harvey which is about 25% of the oil refining capacity of the U.S.
With Hurricane Irma on the way this could mean even more refineries being shut down in the gulf coast causing an even bigger spike in the price of gas. With the supply of gas continuing to go down will the U.S. be able to keep the price of gas low enough so people who live in the states hardest hit by the storms be able to afford to put gas in their vehicles? Does this mean the U.S will have to start depending more on foreign oil?
http://fortune.com/2017/08/31/hurricane-harvey-gas-prices-national/
The main reason for gas shortages due to the hurricane are from a shortage of supply of crude oil, and not damage to the refineries themselves. A quarter of the refineries have shut down, because it would be a waste to have them open without the crude oil supply. Gas prices also have the chance to stabilize if the national reserve releases the 500,000 barrels of crude oil to be refined in the US.
ReplyDeleteI'm expecting the gas prices to continue to be high throughout hurricane season. With the supply of gas going down, the demand will not go down. People will continue to pay the cost as it continues to rise, even if it is difficult to afford. The impact of hurricane irma could further complicate problems by closing more refineries. Making it difficult to transport oil to different parts of the US. The US might depend on foreign oil for the time being because of the shortage of crude oil.
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