Petrol to rise 4p a litre in wake of US hurricane

DRIVERS are being warned to expect a rise in the cost of unleaded petrol because of Hurricane Harvey.

The RAC predicted that forecourt prices could rise by up to 4p per litre in the coming days because of the closure of large refineries on the Gulf Coast of the US.

This would take the aver- age price above £1.21 per litre, making unleaded more expensive than diesel for the first time in over a year.

Pete Williams, an RAC spokesman, said: “This will be the first time unleaded has been higher than diesel since June 2016.

“We expect this to be the case for some time to come, or at least until the US oil industry is able to get refineries back into operation and production in the Gulf Coast returns to normal to meet the United States’ immense appetite for gasoline.

“One quarter of the refining capacity in the States remains offline, leaving a shortfall of over four million barrels a day.

“Americans are wedded to their petrol engines and while they have been endeavouring to become more self-sufficient through increased fracking, they are now having to buy more unleaded from overseas, which is reducing the availability of unleaded for the rest of the world.”

Crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has dropped by 13.5 per cent. The price of Brent crude has also risen to more than $52 a barrel.

Two major fuel pipelines in the US have been restricted or stopped because of flooding, and drivers in Dallas had to queue to fill up their vehicles as some petrol stations ran dry.

At least 39 people were killed in the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. In Texas around 100,000 homes were damaged and nearly 7,000 were destroyed in major flooding.

Back in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit around the August bank holiday and added 5p to a litre of pump petrol in a matter of days, before starting to fall back shortly afterwards.

Luke Bosdet, AA fuel price spokesman, said: “Although Harvey has left commodity prices jumpy, the AA doesn’t expect a leap in pump prices to the scale of that which Hurricane Katrina caused.

“They were already heading up because of the increase in the price of oil since mid-august but still have a little way to go before reaching the 119p in April and 120p of February.”