Futures for gasoline jolted higher early Thursday, with the expiring September contract surging 12%, following reports that a key refining plant in the Gulf Coast would be closed for two weeks due to flooding resulting from then-Hurricane Harvey over the weekend. September gasoline futures , which expire Thursday, were already sharply higher, but added to its rise–above $2 a gallon–marking its highest level since July 2015, according to FactSet data, currently up 12% at $2.110 a gallon. Gasoline gains accelerated after a Reuters report said the nations largest refinery, Motiva Enterprises’ Port Arthur, Texas would be closed for two weeks, likely exacerbating an expected shortage of gasoline in the wake of the record flooding delivered by the Harvey storm system, that has wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, a key refining hub of crude-oil and crude-oil byproducts. The more than 600,000-barrel a day refinery in Port Arthur owned by Saudi Arabia state-oil company, known as Aramco, was closed on Wednesday and is expected to be closed as damages are assessed from floodwaters and winds from Harvey, Reuters said. Expiring contracts tend to be more volatile as they are thinly traded. Still, the most-active October gasoline contract was up 4.7% at $1.716 a gallon.
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