Hurricane Ida caused oil production off the Gulf of Mexico and supply chain companies to temporarily shut down. This is part of reason we're seeing an increase in gas prices that are currently higher than three dollars a gallon.

"Louisiana is also home to a lot of our oil refineries so it kind of impacts the supply chain as well," said Sarah Jenyk, Lecturer in the Department of Accounting and Finance at YSU. "So with both of those shut down as a result of the hurricane it disrupted our supply," she said.

People in the community tell 21 News the fluctuating gas prices are frustrating them. They say there needs to be more consistency and less confusion.

"I think it should be a little bit lower," said Rich Maskulin of Canfield. "I think two fifty a gallon is about where it should be right now," he said.

"I would appreciate it if they were lower," said Lynn Reuter of East Liverpool. "But just, I don't like going one week and finding that it's ten or fifteen cents more a gallon than it was when I got it last week," she said.

"The gas prices are totally ridiculous," said Eloise Rutlegge of Youngstown. "Three dollars. It's up to three dollars. So now I can't go passed half a tank because if I go passed half a tank it's going to take me forty, fifty dollars to fill up my little car," she said.

Jenyk says prices are up because of an increase in demand.

"It's at it's highest level since August of 2019," said Jenyk. "We saw this major drop in demand during the COVID pandemic so people were staying home, people were not traveling and now as people are getting back out into the world again, we're seeing demand pick up. So the increase in demand is putting upwards pressure on prices at the pump," she said.

Jenyk tells 21 News that the good news is, oil production companies in Louisiana did not sustain any damages from Hurricane Ida. They should be up and running again soon and the increase won't be long term.