GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As Louisiana surveys the damage left behind by Hurricane Ida, people across the country are waiting to see what kind of impact that could have on gas prices ahead of Labor Day weekend.
“You’re not going to wake up tomorrow and see prices like 25 or 50 cents a gallon higher. This will be more measured in pennies per day, probably for the next 5-8 days,” said GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis, Patrick DeHaan. “Take a five to fifteen cent increase over a good portion of the country, simply because there are some major refineries in Louisiana. [They have] some of the nation’s largest refineries, and several of them are down now.”
Usually as Labor Day approaches, prices start to decline. That’s due to lower demand in late August as schools begin to reopen and summer vacations wrap up.
“We usually see prices go down, barring a major hurricane. Unfortunately, Labor Day is in the middle of the peak of hurricane season,” DeHaan told WTAQ News. “Once we get outside of Labor Day, gasoline demand will fall. But we will probably see prices go up. So if you’re preparing to hit the road, you’ll pay a little bit more. But prices have moved up far more from other events in the past than what we’ll see this time around.”
Another factor that could cause prices to tick upwards in our area is the lost production in the southern states.
“We could actually see a bit more of an impact as gasoline from the Great Lakes could, and likely will, start to flow south to make up for some of that lost production,” DeHaan said. “[We] could, theoretically, have gasoline now heading down south to make up for some a loss that’s being sustained in Louisiana. It’s not normal if that happens, but pipelines could absolutely send gasoline down. So that could impact our prices.”
To find gas prices in your area, head to GasBuddy.com.
Comments