Hurricane Harvey means that drivers in Kildare will face price hikes at the pumps next week

The price of filling up your car is set to go up next week as a result of the impact that Hurricane Harvey is having on the fuel businesses in the US.

The hurricane that ripped through areas of Texas and caused huge devastation in the past week has left a number of oil refineries out of operation, meaning the supply line of petrol and diesel has been shortened as a result. The knoc-on effect that this is having in Ireland is that the price of petrol and diesel will rise by as much as 3c a litre in the coming week.

The Irish Petrol Retailers' Association warned drivers to expect the extra costs at the pumps, and countries throughout Europe will face the same increases.

The average price of a litre of petrol last month was 132.4c, while diesel was 119.7c a litre on average.

Quoted in the Irish Independent, Michael Griffin, of the IPRA, said his members would see price increases, meaning they will have to pass it on to the everyday customer.

"It will be between 2c and 3c when VAT is included," he said.

The IPRA added: "Global oil prices have risen this week and this is due to downed refineries tightening supplies in the US Gulf coast and the Atlantic coast.

"This causes a ripple effect and wholesale markets moved up in response. This is a short-term blip and while we may see a short-term increase of a few cent per litre over the next week retailers have no option but to increase retail prices as the wholesale price is increased to them."