"Hurricane Sandy Pushes Gas Prices ... Down?"

"For a superstorm, hurricane Sandy has had surprisingly little effect on gasoline prices."

"Even in areas hit hard by the storm, gas prices were up only nominally on the first day: less than a penny in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, according to GasBuddy.com, a group of local websites that track gasoline prices. By the second day, they had stabilized or were falling again.

If anything, hurricane Sandy may be helping to push prices down faster.

That's because the storm hit an energy consuming area of the United States rather than an energy producing area. Thus, the impact of the storm will cause a bigger drop in demand than in supply. All those drivers in New York and New Jersey staying home could reduce gasoline demand by 1 million to 2 million barrels of gasoline per day over the next few days."

Laurent Belsie reports for the Christian Science Monitor October 31, 2012.

SEE ALSO:

"As Sandy's Aftermath Drags On, Gas Lines Stretch Through the Night" (Newark Star-Ledger)