The price of oil is rising as operations at refineries and supply terminals in the Northeast remain restricted three days after Superstorm Sandy. Benchmark oil gained 60 cents Thursday to $86.84 per barrel in New York. Power outages are hampering refineries, storage tanks and supply terminals as they work to restore operations, largely in New York and New Jersey. Imports of oil are also limited, adding to supply problems.
Service stations in many cities have closed because of they can’t get gasoline delivered or lack the power to pump it out of their tanks. That’s left motorists to search for stations that are open and wait in long lines to fill their tanks.