Refinery Failures Contributing to High Gas Prices

Record failures at U.S. refineries are helping to push up the price of gasoline, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Failures have included everything from fires, leaks and spills to floods and lightning strikes that have caused interruptions in production, the paper said in a front-page story.

The snafus have caused locks in production that have pushed fuel prices to more than $3 a gallon, the Times reported.

Gas hit an all-time record of $3.218 a gallon on May 21, more than $1 above the year’s low of $2.165 set in two consecutive weeks in January, according to U.S. Department of Energy figures.

Many refineries delayed some maintenance work following the two big hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, in 2005, the Times reported.