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Harvey Impact: Kansas Gas Prices On The Rise

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Hurricane Harvey and the massive flooding in Texas are driving up gas prices in Kansas and nationwide.

At least 10 oil refineries near the Gulf Coast, representing about 15 percent of the nation’s refining capacity, are shut down.

If you’ve passed a gas station lately, you’ve seen it. Gas prices are inching up.

Jennifer Haugh with AAA Kansas says they’re tracking changes daily.

"Overall Kansas average, we’ve gone up a nickel so far," Haugh says. "We are definitely still behind the national average that’s jumping too, so we are still in a good place."

The average gas price in Kansas on Tuesday was $2.23, up two cents from Monday. Nationwide, gas prices averaged $2.38.

Haugh says Kansas was ranked 12th in the nation with the lowest gas price average.

Analysts are predicting at least a 25 cent spike in gas prices over the next few weeks.

Haugh says even when floodwaters recede, it will still take a few weeks to get the oil refineries back online and running at capacity.

"When they have a shutdown of any kind, when they retool or anything, it’s a couple of weeks to get back online," Haugh says. "Even once the waters recede and everything, you’re still looking at a couple more weeks, so that’s going to have a little bit of an impact on everyone’s resources because one-third of their refineries in that area are shut down."

The longer the Texas oil refineries are idled, the greater the economic impact will be on consumers. Oil refineries turn oil into gasoline and chemicals used in everything from shrink wrap to car tires.

Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast Friday, and then turned into a slow-moving storm that’s causing catastrophic flooding. Harvey has set a U.S. record for rainfall from a tropical storm.

Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar

To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.