Energy traders’ fears are rising right along with the flood levels along the Mississippi River.
Oil is firmly back above $100 a barrel and gasoline futures surged over 6% Monday on concerns about the potential impact of flooding on the largest gasoline pipeline in the U.S. as well as nearly a dozen Gulf Coast refiners.
“The potential for flooding is just one more issue in a series of things that have befallen the gasoline market,” says Houston-based energy analyst Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.
Rising river waters are fueling concerns about U.S. gasoline production after a series of refinery outages in Texas and the East Coast over the last several weeks.
