Ivan blows in higher gas prices
Carolyn Roberts was ready for heavy wind and rain as the remnants of Hurricane Ivan approached northwest Georgia, but she didn’t anticipate storm-driven sticker shock at the gas pump.
Prices at the convenience store where Roberts often stops for fuel near Interstate 75 jumped by a nickel overnight Thursday, from $1.64 to $1.69 per gallon for regular unleaded.
“It’s terrible they’re doing that. Why would you raise gas prices 5 cents because of the weather?” Roberts, a teacher’s aide, said while fueling her Ford Explorer. “Does it matter to me? Of course. I didn’t fill up and I spent $17.”
Ivan – downgraded Thursday to a tropical storm – shut down oil refineries in the Gulf Coast and kept tankers from its ports.
And while some may accuse gas stations of price gouging, analysts say higher costs per barrel were brought on primarily by a drop in supplies from the Gulf, which accounts for a third of domestic oil production.
“Partly, with Ivan coming on, the price of oil is up about $2 a barrel in the last two days, and each $1 translates to about 2.5 cents-a-gallon in cost,” said John Parry, equity analyst for John S. Herold Inc., an energy research and consulting firm.
In West Virginia, the American Automobile Association reported prices jumping 11 cents per gallon overnight.
Prices in metro Atlanta and into northwest Georgia near the Tennessee state line jumped about 5 cents.
“In a nutshell, anytime you have production slowed down for whatever reason …. it is going to drive prices high,” said Greg Beheler, market manager for AAA in Charleston, W.Va.
But Ray Yusuf said the Petro Station he manages in Columbia, Ala., stocked up plenty of fuel in advance of Ivan to avoid a price hike.
Yusuf did take the price – $1.60 per gallon – down from his sign, but only because he didn’t want the numbers to blow away. He said a state of emergency had been declared for Alabama, making sharp price increases illegal.
“There’s no reason to go up. We bought gas at the old price,” said Yusuf. “We’re going to offer our old price.”