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Gasoline supply seems to be returning to pre-storm normal.

Article Excerpt
What caused the recent gasoline shortages in Mississippi? Katrina, of course.

After Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Attorney General's office got numerous calls from people concerned about gas price gouging. But Jerry Wilkerson, executive director of the Mississippi Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association, said most of those cases were legitimate price increases from independent marketers.

Wilkerson said the major oil companies, to their credit, largely froze gas prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Prices went higher for stores buying from independents because the gasoline shortage led to higher prices.

"Gasoline on the independent side went up 50 cents to 60 cents per gallon," Wilkerson said. "The major oil companies made the determination early on to freeze prices where they were. They fluctuated to some degree, but didn't go up like the independents. That is why you saw a wide margin on the streets. It wasn't price gouging. It was just the unbranded gasoline was that much higher. That was the way it went."

Supply and demand

Gasoline became in...

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