Motiva Enterprises' Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the nation's largest, may be shut as long as two weeks for assessment of the plant and repair of any damage, sources familiar with plant operations said on Thursday. 
 
 The 603,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur Refinery was shut on Wednesday due to flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey. 
 
 In a statement to CNBC, Motiva said it "cannot provide a timeline for restart at this time." The oil company says it will begin assessing the refinery "as soon as the local area flooding has receded," although Motive is uncertain about how long it will take for floodwaters to diminish. ||||| Update: 
 
 Colonial Pipeline said it expects to be able to return to full service Sunday, restoring a critical fuel pipeline that serves much of the Southeast. 
 
 Colonial's Lines 1 and 2 continue to operate from Lake Charles, Louisiana to the east, the company said, but deliveries will be intermittent and dependent on terminal and refinery supplies. Lines remain down from Houston - one of the areas hardest hit by the storm to Herbert, Texas. 
 
 "We currently estimate that we will be able to return to service from Houston Sunday, following an evaluation of our infrastructure and successful execution of our start up plan," Colonial said. 
 
 Colonial Pipeline 1 carries as much as 40 percent of the South's gasoline. Line 2 primarily transports diesel and aviation fuels. 
 
 Earlier: 
 
 Colonial Pipeline has shut down key fuel lines running from Houston through Mississippi, Georgia Alabama and up the East Coast after Hurricane Harvey forced the closure of refineries and other facilities. 
 
 Colonial said its facilities west of Lake Charles, Louisiana are out of service due to the storms. That closure, along with hurricane-related shutdowns of refineries in the Gulf Coast, led to the decision to cease operations on Colonial's Line 2, which transports primarily diesel and aviation fuels. Line 1, which carries gasoline, will suspend service today. Line 1 had been operating at a reduced capacity since Harvey hit. 
 
 Line 1 provides nearly 40 percent of the South's gasoline. 
 
 "Once Colonial is able to ensure that its facilities are safe to operate and refiners in Lake Charles and points east have the ability to move product to Colonial, our system will resume operations," the company said in a statement. 
 
 By volume, Colonial is the largest pipeline operator in the country, delivering more than 100 million gallons of refined products each day to markets between Houston and New York City, serving more than 50 million people. Of the 26 refineries connected to the Colonial system, 13 are located between Houston and Lake Charles, the company said. 
 
 The shutdowns are adding to growing concerns about fuel availability as drivers around the Southeast find themselves paying more at the pump. On Thursday morning, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $2.462, up almost 2 cents from yesterday and 11 cents from last week, according to fuel tracking site GasBuddy. 
 
 Experts said prices could increase as much as 35 cents a gallon as refineries remain offline during storm cleanup. 
 
 In its statement, Colonial addressed those concerns. 
 
 "Colonial is one part of the fuel delivery system, and there are multiple means of supplying the market to mitigate concerns with supply, including other pipelines, trucks, and barges," it said. 
 
 Georgia-based Colonial was twice forced to shut down parts of its pipeline last year due to a leak and a fire in Alabama. The shutdowns led to higher gas prices and isolated shortages across the Southeast. 
 
 Hurricane Harvey made its first landfall in Texas last Friday, dumping more than 50 inches of rain on Houston and surrounding counties. The storm made a second landfall Wednesday in Louisiana and is now tracking to the northeast through Mississippi and northern Alabama. ||||| The Trump administration has tapped an emergency stockpile of crude oil in response to the major refinery outages in the U.S. Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Harvey. 
 
 The Energy Department said it will send 500,000 barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the Phillips 66 (PSX) refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 
 
 The oil reserve is made up of a complex of tanks and deeper underground storage caverns. It can hold more than 700 million barrels of oil, making it the largest emergency oil reserve in the world. 
 
 The move is aimed at shielding Americans from higher gasoline prices, which have begun to rise sharply due to a shortage of gasoline caused by refinery shutdowns, port closures and oil production outages. 
 
 Officials said the refinery, which hasn't been shutdown by the historic flooding, requested the release of emergency oil. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) is the largest shareholder in Phillips 66 
 
 The Energy Department said it will "continue to provide assistance as deemed necessary," including more potential drawdowns from the emergency reserve. 
 
 The decision to tap the oil reserve follows the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, which normally carries a huge amount of gasoline between Houston and the East Coast. The key pipeline was knocked offline because there isn't enough gasoline flowing for it to operate. 
 
 Related: Harvey shuts down major fuel pipeline 
 
 Energy Secretary Rick Perry noted the Colonial Pipeline outage is driven by limited gasoline supplies, not damage to the pipeline itself. 
 
 "I don't know how long it's going to take to get those (refineries) back on," Perry told reporters on Thursday aboard Air Force Two with Vice President Mike Pence. 
 
 Matt Smith, director of commodities research at ClipperData, said the emergency stockpile release is likely aimed at helping to fill up the Colonial Pipeline. 
 
 "There's a huge logistical challenge going on at the moment because those refineries up and running don't have access to the oil they need," said Smith. 
 
 The Energy Department is also trying to ease fears about a severe gasoline shortage. 
 
 "This release sends a message to the market that the U.S. government is willing to address any kind of supply shortages. There's definitely a psychological impact," said Joe McMonigle, a former Energy Department official who now serves as senior energy analyst at the Hedgeye Potomac Research Group. 
 
 The widespread disruption in the U.S. Gulf Coast has lifted the average price of a gallon of gasoline by 10 cents to $2.449 on Thursday, according to AAA. 
 
 Related: Harvey to be one of the most expensive natural disasters ever 
 
 McMonigle predicted the Energy Department will take more steps because refinery recoveries are likely to be slow. 
 
 Historic flooding caused by Harvey knocked one-fifth of the nation's refining capacity offline, according to S&P Global Platts. Thirteen oil refineries in Texas have shut down or are in the process of closing, while others are operating at reduced rates. 
 
 "The situation on the ground is even worse than what is being reported. This may not be a quick turnaround. it could take some time for the industry to get back on its feet," McMonigle said. 
 
 The U.S. dipped into the strategic oil reserve during other disruptions, such as the 2011 turmoil in Libya and during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 
 
 Earlier this year, President Trump proposed selling off half of the oil sitting in the reserve to raise revenue. Some analysts at the time criticized the proposal as risky. ||||| FILE PHOTO: Clouds from Hurricane Harvey are seen in the background as smoke rises from a burn off at an oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S. August 26, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photo 
 
 HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Harvey’s impact on the energy industry spread worldwide as flooded U.S. refiners and closed fuel pipelines threatened to squeeze national supply, roiling global fuel markets and rerouting millions of barrels of fuel to the Americas to avert shortages. 
 
 The storm, which lashed Louisiana with rain on Thursday, has pummeled the U.S. Gulf Coast, immersing Houston, Texas, and the surrounding area in several feet of water and forcing the closure of about a quarter of U.S. refining capacity. 
 
 Benchmark U.S. gasoline prices RBc1 and margins RBc1-Clc1 surged anew on Thursday. The jump came after the Colonial Pipeline, the biggest U.S. fuel system, said it would shut its main lines to the Northeast by Thursday amid outages at pumping points and lack of supply from refiners. 
 
 That artery can carry 3 million barrels of gasoline and other products daily. 
 
 At least two East Coast refineries have run out of gasoline for immediate delivery as they scrambled to fill barges for markets normally supplied by the Gulf Coast, two refinery sources said. 
 
 Others were seen running at higher rates to boost profitability by filling shortages. 
 
 “This is going to be the worst thing the U.S. has seen in decades from an energy standpoint,” said an East Coast market source, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the press. 
 
 On Thursday, the U.S. Energy Department said it would release 500,000 barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to supply the refineries that are still running in an effort to stem fuel shortages. 
 
 The first emergency release from the reserve since 2012 will be delivered to the Phillips 66 (PSX.N) refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to a department statement. 
 
 Concerns over fuel shortages ahead of the U.S. Labor Day extended weekend were mounting, said analysts at JBC Energy. 
 
 U.S. gasoline futures RBc1 topped $2 per gallon for the first time since 2015, up more than 20 percent since just before the storm began, while U.S. crude oil prices were on track for their steepest monthly losses in more than a year. [O/R] 
 
 Average U.S. retail fuel prices have surged by more than a dime per gallon from a week ago, the AAA said early on Thursday. 
 
 The Gulf makes up nearly half of total refining capacity in the United States, the world's largest net exporter of refined petroleum products, and the storm is set to impact global flows. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2xzsKWz) 
 
 About 4.4 million barrels of U.S. refining capacity have been shut by Harvey, including the nation’s largest refiner, Motiva Port Arthur, which can process more than 600,000 barrels a day. The total shut-in is about 24 percent of U.S. refining capacity, almost equal to Japan’s daily consumption. 
 
 The closures rattled global fuel markets, and European and Asian traders diverted millions of barrels of gasoline and diesel to the Americas to help fill that gap. But the supplies from those distant markets may not arrive fast enough to avert a crunch. 
 
 “Sourcing additional barrels from Europe is a potential solution, but an increased level of uncertainty is introduced surrounding the timeliness of delivery, given the logistics of travel time and securing tankers,” said Michael Tran, director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets. 
 
 The Asian refining margin on Thursday hit $10.41 a barrel, the highest since January 2016 DUB-SIN-REF. Gasoline prices in the region GL92-SIN-CRK were $16.34 a barrel, also the highest since January 2016. In Europe, benchmark gasoline margins jumped to a two-year high of nearly $21 per barrel. 
 
 The U.S. disruptions have hit wholesalers. The premium for Chicago-area gasoline above benchmark futures is at its highest since June 2016, while the Gulf Coast price is at its widest above futures since August 2012. [PRO/U] 
 
 Suppliers in Chicago were trying to secure supplies after the Explorer Pipeline, which typically carries about 350,000 barrels a day (bpd) to the region, shut down. 
 
 “It’s not a significant problem at the present time, but it could turn into one,” said William Fleischli, executive vice president of the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association, which represents 400 fuel distributors. Fleischli said much depended on how long the shutdowns last. 
 
 Average retail gasoline prices have risen to $2.449 per gallon nationwide, up 4.5 cents a gallon from a day earlier and 10.1 cents from a week ago, AAA data showed. 
 
 In Georgia and North Carolina, fuel prices are up about 17 cents and average prices in South Carolina have risen nearly 20 cents per gallon from a week ago. 
 
 Though flood waters have yet to recede, energy analysts said they anticipated potential long-term effects from the historic storm. Goldman Sachs analysts wrote Wednesday they expected about a tenth of what is now offline to stay shut for several months. ||||| Gasoline prices were surging again Thursday amid refinery closings in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey. 
 
 Gas futures for September delivery were up 12% to $2.11 a gallon at 10:40 a.m. ET. In their eighth straight day of gains, futures are on their longest rising streak in four years, according to Bloomberg. Futures for October delivery also rallied. 
 
 Prices at the pump are also higher. The AAA average national gas price at 3:43 a.m. ET on Thursday was $2.449 a gallon, up from an average price of $2.348 a gallon last week. 
 
 Motiva's refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, which is the largest refinery in the US, shut down Wednesday as floodwater rose. And on Thursday, Colonial Pipeline, which owns the largest pipeline for gas distribution in the US, had planned to shut down its gasoline line because Gulf Coast refiners were unable to process crude oil, Bloomberg reported. "Deliveries will be intermittent and dependent on terminal and refinery supply," the company said in an update. 
 
 To help with the gasoline shortage, the Energy Department on Thursday said it was releasing 500,000 barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve that holds supplies for emergencies. The agency said it loaned the barrels of both sweet and sour crude to a Phillips 66 refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has not been affected by Hurricane Harvey. 
 
 The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that some gas stations in the area may run out of supplies during the Labor Day weekend. Gas stations on the East Coast could also experience shortages, Bloomberg reported, and this could send gas prices even higher. 
 
 Crude-oil prices rose in a "knee jerk reaction" tracking gasoline following news that Exxon Mobil was shutting down its Beaumont, Texas, refinery for up to two weeks, according to Jesse Cohen of Investing.com. The closing of the Motiva refinery and news that the storm Irma had strengthened to a hurricane and could hit Gulf production provided another boost, Cohen said. 
 
 The front-month West Texas Intermediate crude-oil contract gained 2.5% to $47.09 a barrel but remained on track for its fifth straight weekly decline.
– Hurricane Harvey has devastated Texas, and it's also bringing bad news for drivers across the nation. Harvey's impact on the Gulf Coast caused several major refineries and a key gasoline pipeline to shut down, the AP reports. What that means: Prices are on the rise: Per GasBuddy, the average price of a gallon of gas in the US was $2.469 Thursday afternoon. That's up 2.3 cents from Wednesday, 11.7 cents from last week, 15.1 cents from last month, and 24.3 cents from last year. They're even higher in some areas: Reuters, citing AAA data, says fuel prices in Georgia and North Carolina are up 17 cents a gallon from a week ago; in South Carolina, almost 20 cents. And they're likely to go higher: Per Business Insider, gas futures for both September and October are up. In fact, Thursday was their eighth straight day of gains, their longest rising streak in four years. There's also the problem of gas availability: The AP reports that QuikTrip, one of the biggest convenience store chains in the country, is going to stop selling gas entirely at about half of its stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area in anticipation of shortages. Even locations that have gas may run out: The Star-Telegram reports that convenience store operators and gasoline retailers are warning there's a major chance some Texas locations will run out of gas this weekend due to supply chain disruptions. Specifics on those disruptions: Colonial, the largest pipeline operator in the country, has shut down key fuel lines (AL.com) and Motiva Enterprises' Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the biggest in the country, may be closed for as long as two weeks (CNBC). Some of the other refineries and pipelines affected are starting back up, CNBC reports. A dire quote: "Hurricane Harvey has potentially cut US fuel-making capacity to the lowest level since 2008," per Bloomberg. And another: "This is going to be the worst thing the US has seen in decades from an energy standpoint," a market analyst tells Reuters. What's being done to help: Per Bloomberg, the EPA is exempting many southeastern states from requirements that they use fuel meeting clean-air standards. And CNNMoney reports the Trump administration is tapping the emergency US oil reserve; the Energy Department will send 500,000 barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the Phillips 66 refinery in Louisiana. That could help with gas prices.