Gas Price Gouging Hits Hurricane States

Officials are instituting emergency anti-price gouging laws in their states.

ByABC News
September 12, 2008, 3:04 PM

Sept. 12, 2008— -- HOUSTON (AP) - Hurricane Ike may still be in the Gulf of Mexico, but its economic impact has already made landfall, sending wholesale gasoline prices soaring Friday and straining the nation's fuel supply chain.

Wholesale gasoline prices on the Gulf Coast moved even further into uncharted territory to around $4.85 a gallon on fears of vast fuel shortages as the hurricane honed in on the mass of refineries that line the upper Texas coast. The region accounts for about one-fifth of the nation's petroleum refining capacity.

At least eight refineries had shut down or were powering down as Ike prepared to strike.

Gas supply disruptions were being felt outside Texas, where Ike is expected to make landfall in the next 24 hours. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe declared a state of emergency and said he expected temporary increases in gas prices over the next few days as pipelines into the state are shut down.

Gulf Coast wholesale gasoline jumped substantially from Tuesday, when a gallon cost just $3, said Ben Brockwell, director of data, pricing and information services for the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.

"The path of the storm has put the entire supply chain under stress from the refinery level all the way to the retail station level," Brockwell said. "Hopefully it's a temporary phenomenon, but we won't know until next week."

The spike will almost certainly lead to high pump prices for consumers across broad swaths of the country, as the gasoline makes it way from the wholesale market to retailers.

For now, pump prices are holding fairly steady. The average U.S. retail price for gasoline edged up less than a penny overnight to $3.675 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Meanwhile, October gasoline futures climbed 6.52 cents to $2.8140 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Texas Attorney General's Office said Friday it had received about two dozen complaints of price gouging at gasoline stations, but nothing excessive as yet.