Hurricane Ike pushes up U.S oil prices

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Motorists far from the Gulf Coast on Sunday continued to feel the ripple effects from Hurricane Ike‘s trek through refinery-rich Texas, as the cost of gas throughout the Midwest and East leaped higher, going above $5 a gallon at a growing number of stations.

The $5-plus service stations weren’t all that common, but they provided an exclamation point to Ike’s effect on gas prices. Weekend jumps of 30 to 60 cents weren’t out of the ordinary in some regions and they helped kick the nationwide average cost of self-serve regular to $3.79 a gallon Sunday, a 12-cent hike since Friday, reports Elizabeth Douglass.

Read more about how Hurricane Ike is affecting oil prices in the United States here.

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-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City