Analysts say Hurricane Harvey is going to drive gas prices up by as much as 25 cents a gallon here in Illinois. Prices at the pump are already up at some suburban stations--so if you can--try to fill up now: Harvey is going to hit drivers right in the pocket books.
Some of the nation's largest and most critical refiners are in the Gulf Coast. Producing 5 million barrels of oil a day. That's nearly one third of the nations refining capacity. But with some refineries shut down - the department of energy says 2 million barrels a day are not being processed. That means pain at the pump for drivers says analyst Patrick Dehaan of GasBuddy.Com.
"We usually see a very fast reaction to anything that is happening on wholesale market," says Patrick Dehann of GasBuddy.com. "And that's all a result of Harvey now."
Tuesday morning, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Illinois was $2.37, but Dehaan says prices were already going up by noon.
Driver Jake Rule says the increase in prices means he'll just have to shop around more.
"If I'm going to drive I'm going to pay more, we can cry about it but we are going to pay more--I'm used to it now," Rule says.
Quiana Moore-Hawkins says she's not happy about paying more to fill up.
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"We all need gas," she concedes.
Dehaan says we still don't know the full impact of the damage to the refineries but he expects prices will eventually come down.
