Prices at the pump remained virtually flat two weeks after Hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas earlier this month, although prices remained more than 25 cents higher than the same time last year.
The Energy Department showed in its most recent weekly analysis of fuel prices that the average gasoline retail price increased less than one cent, “remaining virtually unchanged” from the previous week at $2.84 per gallon on Sept. 24. Florence hit the North Carolina coast 10 days earlier.
East Coast prices were a bit of an anomaly in the last week, falling two cents to $2.77, according to the Energy Information’s Week in Petroleum report released Wednesday.
One of the reasons for the stable prices can be attributed to the Colonial Pipeline, the largest carrier of gasoline from the Gulf Coast to New York, operating at full capacity through the storm, according to the company.
“Colonial thanks its customers, government agencies and emergency management officials for their communications and cooperation during Hurricane Florence,” it said in its recent update on Hurricane Florence response. “As a result of this effective coordination, deliveries of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to affected communities continued during the hurricane.”
The lack of price fluctuations jibed with what experts in the oil industry had predicted as Florence hit the Southeast.
“I think it’s going to have less of an impact to the oil and gas industry than Harvey did, simply because the refinery complex is right there on the Gulf Coast,” Dan Eberhart, CEO of the oil services firm Canary and an ardent Republican donor, told the Washington Examiner the day the storm hit.
On Sept. 19, five days after Florence struck, the agency reported that the U.S. average gasoline price had increased almost one cent from the previous week, to $2.84 per gallon.
On Sept. 12, two days before the storm, the average regular gasoline price had increased nearly one cent from the previous week, to $2.83 per gallon.
A year ago, when Hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf Coast in late August, the average price of gasoline jumped four cents.
Nevertheless, the flat price of gasoline experienced this year is still over 25 cents more than where prices were a year ago when Harvey was pummeling the Gulf Coast.
The average price of diesel fuel increased less than one cent from last week, also remaining virtually unchanged at $3.27 per gallon. But similar to gasoline, the price is nearly 50 cents higher than a year ago.
Fuel prices in the nation began to creep up in early 2017 when crude oil production was much lower than current levels and the price of oil began to rise.
