redneckgaijin

Edit: Inspired by an LJ post now friends-only, although she was the third person I heard/read arguing that, since the hurricane knocked out a load of cars, demand should have gone down, not up, for gas...

Hurricane Katrina knocked out, at most, 2 million automobiles- that presumes that every single car in New Orleans, Mobile, and points in between along the cost were destroyed. (Which is untrue, since most of 'em evacuated before landfall and a lot of those in the flooded/wasted area are still operable.) That's less than one percent- call it 0.6%- of the automotive vehicles in the United States.

The hurricane shut down virtually all oil production in the Gulf of Mexico- about 20% of the country's TOTAL SUPPLY of oil.

The hurricane shut down at least seven refineries completely and affected a number of others. There are fewer than 250 refineries total in the United States; seven refineries gone is about 2% of the total refining capacity of the USA, which was already going at maximum capacity to try to meet demand. A number of other refineries are either shut down or on restricted output due to storm damage or lack of electricity.

Furthermore, the two major pipeline systems which send refined products like gasoline from the Gulf Coast refineries to the East Coast are knocked out for lack of electricity. This means that, until those pipelines are restored to operation, NO FUEL AT ALL is going to Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, except for what might be trucked in.

In short, demand was lowered only a fraction; supply was cut a LOT. One HELL of a lot.

That's why gasoline is spiking, and why gas isn't likely to come down even for Christmas...