Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Gas prices this summer have been the second cheapest since summer of 2005, but Hurricane Harvey is sending those prices up.
A gallon of gas in the D.C. metro area costs $2.57 Friday morning, up four cents from earlier this week.
Gas Buddy’s Patrick DeHaan said as wholesale gas prices rise, retailers are likely to pass those increases on to the consumer as the weekend progresses.
Up to one-third of the U.S. oil refinery capacity is in southern part of the country, including areas in the hurricane’s path like Corpus Cristi and Houston, TX.
At this point it looks like Harvey will have an impact on gas prices for at least one to two weeks according to DeHaan, but it could be longer than that depending on how many refineries have to shut down and how long the shutdowns last.
“Keep a close eye on how much rain falls in Houston, how bad the storm surge is. That’s going to dictate how bad gas prices will climb in the weeks ahead,” said DeHaan.
DeHaan said Houston produces a lot of oil, which is why the state of the city’s refineries are so critical to gas prices.
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