As Hurricane Ian wreaks havoc on parts of Florida and Cuba, the safety of millions of people is at risk. On top of the damage that the storm has already caused — and will continue to cause — the last thing residents of that area need to worry about is an increase in gas prices.
On Wednesday, during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, President Joe Biden pled with U.S. energy companies not to use Hurricane Ian as an excuse to hike fuel prices.
“Do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people,” Biden said. “This small, temporary storm impact on oil production provides no excuse for price increases at the pump.”
That being said, how is the hurricane expected to affect fuel prices?
The news: So far, experts state that there isn’t major cause to be worried about gas prices as Ian storms across Florida, halting some oil production on the coast.
- Michael Tran, a commodity and digital intelligence strategist at RBC Capital markets, told CNN that he doesn’t expect the hurricane to have a large impact on gas prices.
- “This is not going to be a meaningful event for the global oil market,” he said.
- So far, BP and Chevron have evacuated offshore oil and gas sites, derailing production of over 400,000 barrels a day, which is said to be less than 5% of U.S. daily fuel production.
Worth noting: However, some experts think that if Ian moves to the Gulf of Mexico, it could pose a serious threat to oil production, according to CNN.
- The National Hurricane Center stated that Ian is expected to stay strong as it travels toward the Gulf of Mexico.
- “Ian is expected to remain a major hurricane when it moves generally northward across the eastern Gulf of Mexico during the middle of next week, but uncertainty in the track forecast is higher than usual.”