Storm’s Impact on Oil Industry Is Felt at Gasoline Pumps<br />“Satan could not have drawn up a more horrible geographic scenario for knocking out Texas refining.”<br />Because the storm hit all the major oil centers on the Texas coast — Corpus Christi, Houston, Beaumont<br />and Port Arthur — a third of the nation’s refining capacity could be constrained for weeks, he said.<br />Weekly change in gas prices<br />Change in each state’s<br />average of regular gasoline<br />Change in each state’s average of regular gasoline<br />in Hawaii, down 1 cent<br />in Hawaii down 1 cent<br />Still, the effects are likely to ripple across the globe.<br />Mexico and other Latin American markets that have come to depend on American gasoline<br />and crude oil will have to turn to Europe and elsewhere, putting them in competition with American markets for the same supplies and probably compounding the impact of higher prices.<br />Nationally, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline on Thursday morning jumped 5 cents<br />from the day before, to $2.45, the highest price of the year, according to the AAA motor club.
