GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The attack on Saudi facilities on Saturday caused the biggest oil supply disruption for more than 50 years.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest crude exporter and one of the top producers.
“This slams a break on everything that I have said in the last month or so and instead of gas prices going down and seeing a seasonal decline, now we are looking at gas prices beginning to go back up.”
Patrick DeHaan of Gasbuddy.com says people will see the impact at the pumps.
“Oil prices are trading about 15 percent higher today and those prices will show up at the local racks the next time the tankers come in and stations could start raising prices very quickly.”
He says he does not think it will be a dramatic increase from day to day but a gradual rise in prices.
He says there is no need to panic.
“There is no concern from my standpoint on availability. Stations will not start to run out, there is plenty of gasoline to go around.”
DeHaan says prices at the pump will react similarly to as they normally do in spring.
“I would not expect this to be a 10 or 20 cent jump all at once, but this would look more like stations starting to raise their prices for the next week or two. What we are going to see in the next few weeks is what we tend to feel every spring which are some jolts and a rise in prices.”
One good thing is that companies have now shifted over to cheaper winter fuel starting this week.
“There have been some indications that some of it could return very quickly with a full 100 percent restoration perhaps in one to two weeks from now.”
