Wednesday, July 11, 2007

"Higher fuel prices blamed on Coffeyville flooding"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Consumers are beginning to pay more at the gas pump because of flooding at a southeast Kansas refinery.

The flooding in Coffeyville reduced fuel supplies and sent wholesale prices soaring.

Prices spiked 10 cents a gallon overnight at some stations. And by the end of the week, prices could reach from $3.25 to 3-50 a gallon in the Midwest and Great Lakes.

That's according to Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. He says the prices the next ten days could be the highest of the year.

Before last week's flooding, the Coffeyville Resources refinery produced 108,000 barrels a day of gasoline, diesel and other fuel oils.

That represented about one-seventh of the refining capacity for the Great Plains.

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Prices here went from $2.79 to $3.19, yesterday.

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