20 percent of gas production knocked offline during storm

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Gas supply continues to be a problem across the Houston area as supplies are still being delivered to the region, experts say. Fortunately, it should be short-lived.

Getting fuel to gas stations has been a challenge across the state, leading to shortages at the pump. That along with power outages has made finding available fuel difficult, according to GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan.

"There's a game of catch-up now," De Haan said. "What was normal delivery, in terms of time, could have taken five times as long."

This week's cold spell knocked at least 20 percent of the country's gas production offline, De Haan said, but they should be restarting soon. At one point 11 refineries across the state were offline.

The GasBuddy outage tracker has shown dozens of stations without gas over the week, though as the power came back on, some conditions have improved. However, at least 100 stations didn't have fuel to dispense as of Friday afternoon.

Gas prices are going up, but only moderately, De Haan said.

"We've already seen prices in Houston go up five cents a gallon over the last week. We could see a 10-20 cent impact over the next two weeks. Every day or two, you may see your local station go up a few cents per gallon," De Haan said. "It's not the end of the world."