Local Gas Prices Spike in Wake of Ike (FL)

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080912/NEWS/809120411/0/WIRE12

The Ike spike has begun.

Hurricane Ike steered well away from Central Florida, but it touched Polk County indirectly Friday as gasoline prices vaulted 20 cents or more per gallon at some local stations. The hurricane, bearing down on Texas late Friday with winds in excess of 100 mph, prompted the precautionary closing of oil refineries across the region.

That caused wholesale gasoline prices to jump 44 percent Thursday in the Gulf Coast, according to Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. Kloza said wholesale prices reached $4.25 a gallon on Thursday, exceeding the previous high set in 2005 after hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast.

Wholesale prices are what fuel companies charge retailers, who then mark up prices to make profits. Local, state and federal taxes further increase the pump price.

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