9/22/2005
Oil Prices Rise In Advance Of Hurricane Rita
(Galveston, TX) Hurricne Rita, roaring along at a Category 5 pace in the middle of the Caribbean, had fueled speculative spkies in oil and natural gas futures.
Local station operators across the nation are also raising prices.
"I start raising prices every time the lot fills up," said Fred Karoll, owner of a Galveston Stop-n-Rob. "They may bitch a little, but people are too lazy to get in another line."
Larry Pontell, a Toledo station owner, justifies his $.20 hike on his normally-thin profit margins on gas.
"Look we only make a couple pennies a gallon," he said, adding that his currrent $2.99 was $.40 over the wholesale price he paid on Wednesday. "Why can't gas stations have Christmas once in a while?"
Hurricane forecasters expect that Rita's landfall will likely send gas prices shyrocketting. That's good news to Jeroen van der Veer, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell plc.
"Jesus Christ, we made billions off of Katrina, and now God sends us a second hell-storm in 4 weeks?" he asked. "We'll be able to buy up half the Fortune 500 by the time this hurricane season is over!"