AUSTIN, Texas — After its landfall in Texas on Monday, Tropical Storm Beryl could have an impact on gas prices.
Any storm in the Gulf of Mexico could impact what we pay nationwide. With thousands of offshore rigs, many were in Beryl’s path.
Hurricanes in Texas have affected gas prices in the past. During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, AAA found national gas prices rose 4 cents in just one week.
Right now, gas prices are averaging $3.01 a gallon in Austin, which is below the national average of $3.46. But these low gas prices could go back up.
“It’s a question of, will there actually be an interruption in crude shipments in the Houston Ship Channel, and therefore into the United States?” said Tom Seng, assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University. “Or will there be any kind of outages at the refineries along the Gulf Coast? Both of those situations could certainly raise the price of gasoline almost overnight because the market sees the supply interruptions pretty quickly.”
Seng said consumers need to watch two things during Beryl: if winds cause any damage to offshore oil platforms and if flooding forces any refineries to shut down.
According to GasBuddy, the nation’s average price of gasoline is virtually unchanged compared to a week ago.
“The national average price of gasoline has nudged higher over the last week as oil prices have continued to push toward multi-month highs. While it looks like this recent rise could be restrained for now, Hurricane Beryl is a stark reminder that hurricane season could play a role in prices in the weeks ahead,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “For now, we’ll likely continue to see some fluctuations in either direction with the national average moving up, but as we approach August and the peak of hurricane season, there remains a risk that the national average could surge temporarily if we see a major storm in the wrong place.”
WFAA contributed to this report.