Gasoline Supplies to Be Tight Through September in Texas

Gasoline supplies to be tight through September in Texas

AUSTIN, the United States, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — Due to damage caused by Hurricane Ike, gasoline supplies will be tight throughout September in Texas, local media said Tuesday.

In Texas, which accounts for 22 percent of the nation’s refining capacity, refineries remain closed.

Primary assessments show that 14 Gulf Coast refineries sustained only minor or moderate damage, but it could take two weeks or more to restart many of the plants.

Local gas stations were reopening, but consumers quickly sapped supplies.

In the interim the state and individual companies are using existing supplies to restock gas stations in Southeast Texas. Elsewhere, some stations in Tennessee, Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia that depend on Gulf Coast gasoline have run dry as they receive less from critical pipelines that are shut down or running at reduced rates.

The result will be at least a temporary return to 4-U.S.-dollar gasoline before it falls back toward 3 dollars in November and December, said Tom Kloza, chief analyst for the Oil Price Information Service.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waived blending standards for fuel that can be sold in the regions affected by Ike, which allows for more gasoline imports to help fill in the gap. The agency did the same thing after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

(c) 2008 Xinhua News Agency – CEIS. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.