Gasoline Futures Surge on St. Croix Refinery Shutdown

Gasoline futures surged nearly 7 percent Tuesday on word of a large refinery snag, marking an almost 50-cent-per-gallon increase over the past month that is sure to send pump prices higher.

“We are looking at retail prices that will soon be above $2.50 gallon nationally, and could perhaps eclipse the $2.60 per gallon” level, said analyst Tom Kloza at Wall, N.J.-based Oil Price Information Service.

The average retail price of unleaded gasoline was $2.37 a gallon last week _ the highest level since November, according to the Energy Department.

Gasoline futures rose 12.27 cents to settle at $1.866 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brokers said the rally was sparked after Amerada Hess Corp. said Tuesday that over the weekend it unexpectedly shut a gasoline producing unit at a refinery in St. Croix that it co-owns with Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The spokesman said repairs to the unit, which refines roughly 150,000 barrels of crude per day, could take up to two weeks.

AP