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Philadelphia Oil Refinery Fire Causing Pittsburgh Gas Prices To Rise

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- If you feared the refinery explosion in Philadelphia could affect gas supplies and price in Pittsburgh, you'd be right.

Don Bowers of the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association is an expert in gas prices in our area.

"That's going to be a bad thing, it's not a help to us, it's a hindrance," he said. "Anything coming from the east coast is going to be a problem."

Between summer driving and tensions with Iran, our gas prices were already rising.

"Over the last couple days, the market has gone up over ten cents already," Bowers said. "That's just because inventory took a hit with the driving season and all the stuff with Iran."

The Philadelphia refinery is the largest one on the east coast and it's where Pittsburgh gets its summer blend fuel from, so this means another hit at the pump, but how much?

"Seven cents a gallon," Bowers said. "That's the wholesale price of gasoline, that hits us and we have to do the retail. It's moving up fast."

Another seven cents per gallon hike on top of a recent ten cents per gallon hike and with the Fourth of July week coming our way, demand is only going to rise.

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