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Gasoline prices continued to rise Monday.

Overnight, retail gasoline prices nationwide rose an average of about a nickel for a gallon of regular gasoline, to $3.842, 16.7 cents from Friday, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

The AAA on Monday was reporting the average price for gas in St. Louis was $3.786 a gallon. In Metro East, where gas is normally higher due to taxes, the price was $4.084 a gallon.

At least 14 Texas refineries closed before Hurricane Ike made landfall, removing more than 20 percent of the nation’s petroleum refining capacity. The storm also destroyed at least a dozen production platforms and drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the major oil companies, said refineries appeared to have escaped widespread damage.

"We’ve not seen anywhere near the water damage as we saw in 2005," according to Cavaney, who said refinery operation could resume in a matter of several weeks.

While the refineries may come back on line in weeks, the pipes that bring crude into the refineries and those that carry finished products like gasoline away also must have power.

The Explorer Pipeline, a key fuel artery from the Gulf Coast that supplies much of the central United States, including St pay day loans. Louis, has been shut down due to Ike.

However, the Wood River refinery in Roxana — an important fuel producer for the St. Louis area — was operating normally on Monday, spokeswoman Melissa Erker said.

The Department of Energy on Sunday said 200,000 barrels of oil would be delivered to the refinery from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Conoco