Rise in gas prices in metro Atlanta likely, but Russia-Ukraine crisis not immediately to blame

A leak forced a pipeline that supplies Georgia to go offline, resulting in increased prices at gas pumps.

ATLANTA - It seems there will be no letup in high gas prices, at least not anytime soon.

An executive with a major supplier, Mansfield Oil, sees prices staying high or rising into the spring.

This week, an average gallon of gas was just below $3.50 in Georgia.

And there are issues that factor into the price which have nothing to do with the international turmoil prompted by Russia's invasion into Ukraine

Georgia is served by two pipelines. The smaller of the two was taken offline Wednesday night because of a leak.

"Supply is tight," said Zach Wall of Mansfield.

And it was that way before the leak was detected.

Wall said until that pipeline is back up, haulers may have to search for the next available load to deliver to a gas station.

In the short term, he said, there could be outages. "But only for a couple of hours," he added.

As for the uncertainty around Russia -- a major oil producer - it is unknown whether prices will be impacted for the mid to long term.