What happened
A hurricane is approaching the southeastern United States, threatening Gulf Coast refineries and potentially causing fuel prices to rise. The storm, Hurricane Isaias, has winds of 120 mph and is expected to make landfall late Friday night. Refineries that process around 500,000 barrels of oil daily are at risk, and offshore oil producers have already suspended operations as a precaution.
Several major refineries, including those in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Mobile, Alabama, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are in the storm's potential damage zone. The storm could also delay oil tankers traveling across the Gulf, causing further supply chain constraints. The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at a 40-year low, with only about 280 million barrels of oil, making the country more vulnerable to supply disruptions.
The national average price of gasoline is currently $4.37 per gallon, while diesel averages $6.28 per gallon. Fuel prices remain elevated due to disrupted diesel shipments and countries replenishing their oil inventories. G-7 countries have announced plans to release 100 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves over the next four months to help with prices.
