GasBuddy: Hurricane Laura Has Caused Prices to Go Up, They’ll Go Back Down Soon

STATEWIDE–Gas prices have been going up lately in Indiana and around the country. GasBuddy says the main reason for that is Hurricane Laura.

“Hurricane Laura caused wholesale prices to go up just a couple cents per gallon, but that brought a price hike to Indiana. Now that the storm is weakening, you can expect prices to inch back down,” says Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “Hurricane Laura was pretty major. It shut down over 2 million barrels of refining capacity in the Gulf Coast.”

That drop in gasoline production is why you’re seeing a rise in prices, says DeHaan. Many stations in Indiana are selling regular unleaded gas for $2.25 after this recent price increase.

“Prices will start going down a few pennies a day, but only at those stations where prices have gone up already. Stations that remain at or under $2 probably won’t go down anymore. They’ll go up. For the stations that are at $2.25, I would expect them to be down to $2.20 or even $2.15 by the weekend,” says DeHaan.

DeHaan says the stations that are selling gas $2 per gallon or less are “dancing on the edge of not being profitable” because they haven’t gone along with the most recent price cycle.

“That will push them to raise their prices,” says DeHaan.

Depending on what city or town you live in, you probably see a lot of stations staying around the same price.

“It takes one station to go up before any of the others can go up. If one station raises its prices when the competition doesn’t, then they’re going to be losing sales, so they go back down,” says DeHaan.

DeHaan says the coronavirus is still keeping overall demand for gas low.