Gasoline prices began rising anew today as Hurricane Rita forced the shutdown of refineries, pipelines and more than 90 percent of offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Even if Rita avoids a direct hit on the nation's oil belt, the closures of Texas and Louisiana refineries and pipelines that feed gasoline to the Midwest and East Coast assured higher fuel prices and disruptions in supplies.

Locally, gas stations across the Tri-State have been swamped with business but have not yet had to raise prices.

"We've been pretty busy since yesterday about noon," said Tom Kinney, manager of the Rich Oil station at Third and Monroe streets in Ironton. Kinney said he heard from employees that at one point Thursday evening, a line of customers formed at the pumps, customers waiting to get gas because they had heard the price was going up, but he said he was not at the gas station at that time.

&uot;Expect prices to rise in the short term. That could be extended into the long term, depending on damage - if there is any - to refineries,&uot; said Ben Brockwell, the director of pricing for the Oil Price Information Service.

In a news conference Thursday, Red Cavaney, the president of the American Petroleum Institute, urged motorists to drive less and warned that topping off gas tanks would drain the limited supplies.

Twenty-one refineries in Texas and Louisiana might be in Rita’s path. Together they represent more than 27 percent of U.S. refining capacity. Hurricane Katrina forced the shutdown of nine refineries.