Experts: Gas prices to remain high through September

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Over the long holiday weekend, Miguel Pabon is taking his family on a road trip.

The higher gas prices won't stop him, but he's also not thrilled with the fact that they keep going up.

"Just knowing that you got to pay more money to entertain yourself after you've worked all week and all that stuff, with politics being what it is today, I mean, I just think it's affecting everything all the way around," Pabon said.

But he understands why gas is up more than 20 cents a gallon over the last week. Harvey is gone, but its effects still linger.

"Over the next few days, we're really hoping to see what, if any damage, was done to some of those refineries in Houston and the Port Arthur areas," said AAA spokesperson, Josh Carrasco. "If they're able to get back online here in the next week or two, we should expect to see gas prices start to go down as we head into later September and the beginning of October."

But before that, GasBuddy.com says that 20-cent increase we've seen here in the Bay Area could double.

"Prices are likely to go up quite high before they start to come down," said GasBuddy.com's Dan McTeague.

"It's likely that we could probably see another, expect another 20-cent a gallon increase between now and this time next week, perhaps even sooner."

Shortages in the Bay Area are unlikely. Retailers are selling winter blends a couple of weeks early to stave off a shortage. Plus, gasoline is coming from other places, driving up those prices.

"Now we're having to get shipments in from other areas such as the northeast, and it costs a little more to ship gasoline from those areas, which is why we're seeing the price increase," said Carrasco.

Experts suggest filling up your tank sooner rather than later. The cheapest prices we'll see here in the Bay area are right now until those refineries in Texas are able to get back online.