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Gasoline prices were surging again Thursday amid refinery closings in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey.
The AAA average national gas price at 3:43 a.m. ET on Thursday was $2.449 a gallon, up from an average price of $2.348 a gallon last week.
Motiva’s refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, which is the largest refinery in the US, shut down Wednesday as floodwater rose.
On Thursday, Colonial Pipeline, which owns the largest pipeline for gas distribution in the US, had planned to shut down its gasoline line because Gulf Coast refiners were unable to process crude oil, Bloomberg reported.
Gas stations on the East Coast could also experience shortages, Bloomberg reported, and this could send gas prices even higher.
Crude-oil prices rose in a “Knee jerk reaction” tracking gasoline following news that Exxon Mobil was shutting down its Beaumont, Texas, refinery for up to two weeks, according to Jesse Cohen of Investing.com.