United States has been hit by gasoline shortage as the effect of Tropical Storm Harvey and the flood it brought to Texas and environ disrupted production on the Gulf Coast.
Retail U.S. gasoline prices rose 2.8 percent from Friday to Saturday as refineries warned customers about the fuel-supply shortage.
They were at $2.59 a gallon, according to motorists advocacy group AAA. It represents a 16.7 percent rise in the average price from a year ago.
Prices have risen more than 17.5 cents since Aug. 23, before the storm began.
Average prices in Texas, the epicenter of the storm, rose more than 3 percent from Friday to Saturday, and are up 12 percent from a week ago.
Refiner Motiva has warned customers along the route of the largest U.S. fuel pipeline to prepare for shortages after Harvey shut refineries and cut supply to the line, said a source at a fuel distributor supplied by Motiva.
Harvey shut refineries that can process up to 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude. The plants shut down include Motiva’s 603,000 bpd facility in Port Arthur, Texas, the largest refinery in the country.
