Hurricane Could Impact Gas Prices

Hurricane Harvey is causing cause U.S. gasoline prices to rise, with the storm hitting a refinery-rich stretch of the Gulf Coast.

Some refineries shut down until the storm passes, disrupting gasoline supplies.

Wholesale gasoline futures rose Thursday by 5 cents, or 3 percent, to $1.66 per gallon, and experts say that will quickly show up on service-station signs.

Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with GasBuddy, says Harvey could show up in retail as early as this weekend. But he says doesn’t expect it will have as much impact as some past storms, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which caused a 40-cent jump overnight.

In the Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas operators evacuated workers from rigs.

According to AAA Prices in the pump in Kansas have gone up slightly. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Kansas Saturday morning is $2.21 a gallon, up from $2.19 a week ago.