Hurricane Harvey spikes local, national gas prices

Hurricane Harvey’s disastrous wake is being felt across the country, forcing a large spike in gas prices during the past week.

Missouri’s average gas price rose 25.6 cents to $2.41 per gallon yesterday, ranking the state sixth on GasBuddy.com’s list of the lowest figures nationwide. The Show-Me State outpaced the national average, which jumped 23.8 cents to $2.64 per gallon, according to a GasBuddy.com news release.

"Thanks to Harvey shutting down an extensive amount of refining capacity, the national average gasoline price saw its largest weekly jump since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, in the release. “Every state has seen average gas prices rise. Until Texas can recover from Harvey, gasoline prices will likely continue to remain elevated.

“While it may be weeks or longer before all refineries are back online, we now turn our attention to Hurricane Irma.”

The lowest cost for gas in Springfield this morning was $2.31 per gallon at a handful of stations. Prices elsewhere in the city ranged up to $2.37 per gallon, according to MissouriGasPrices.com.

Statewide, prices were as low as $2.14 per gallon at a station in Bethel and as high as $3.09 per gallon in Ladue.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $48.79 as of 9:39 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $42.06 to $55.24.