Average pump prices for gas in metro Atlanta were pretty much the same Friday as they were a week ago, despite fears that Hurricane Irene could disrupt production along the East Coast.
Local retailers and gas suppliers don’t expect any disruption in the availability of gas, or much movement in prices, because metro supplies come from the Gulf of Mexico.
Analysts say East Coast refineries are likely to shut down in advance of Irene's arrival this weekend, and gasoline prices are already rising in the region.
The national average for regular gas, for example, jumped 10 cents a gallon between Thursday and Friday, according to American Automobile Association data.
In metro Atlanta, however, the average price for regular gas was $3.54 a gallon Friday, the same as the day before and a week ago, according to AAA. Mid-grade averaged $3.71, compared with $3.72 a week ago, and premium was the same this week as it was last week, $3.87.
“This may very from county to county and city to city, but overall there really has not been any real spike or decrease over the past couple of weeks in [metro] gas prices,” said AAA spokeswoman Jessica Brady said.
Jim Tudor, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, said only panic would drive prices higher locally at this point.
“There are no supply issues in the Gulf,” Tudor told the AJC. “The only supply issues we would ever have is if people, for whatever reason, decided to panic and fill up their gas tanks. We would have a supply issue in Atlanta whether that happened now or it happened in the middle of February when there aren’t any hurricanes.”
Tudor said retailers on Georgia’s coast also aren’t concerned about supplies because their gas comes through the port of Savannah on barges, not through pipelines.
“I’ve already talked people over there and there have been no issues getting product into the Port of Savannah,” he said. “Fortunately, there is no Florida evacuation so therefore we don’t have a lot of people that are coming up from Florida that would be using up gas along I-95.”
Tudor said metro Atlanta gas retailers find out around 5 p.m. each day what wholesalers expect to charge them for the next day’s supply of gas. The price at the pump may or may not reflect the increase or decrease in the wholesale price. Retailers decide how much of that change gets passed along to customers.
“When we get very volatile situations, sometimes they’ll change the price on us during the day, but that unfortunately is something out of our control,” the retail trade group president said.
The hurricane could push crude oil prices higher if it disrupts refineries in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, which produce nearly 8 percent of U.S. gasoline and diesel fuel. It could take a refinery several days to restart if it is shut down and a month to get back to full operation.
Analysts, however, say the impact on the nation will be minimal since the U.S. is well supplied by refining hubs along the Gulf Coast and the West Coast.
Oil closed just above $85 per barrel in Friday trading, mainly on news that the economy didn't grow as fast as previously expected. Slower growth lowers energy demand.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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