Gas prices jumped Saturday as Hurricane Ike pounded the refinery rich regions of Texas and Louisiana, threatening to shut down the nation's vast energy complex in the Gulf of Mexico for days.

Gas prices nationwide rose nearly 6 cents a gallon to $3.733, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.There were initial reports of gas price gouging in the area even before Ike made landfall.

The cost for a gallon of gas could head back toward all-time highs of $4-per-gallon, reached over the summer when oil prices neared $150 a barrel.

Geoff Sundstrom, AAA's fuel price analyst in Orlando, Fla., said Ike has disrupted supply at the wholesale level in the Gulf Coast, where prices struck $4.85 a gallon Friday.

The immediate future for the price of gas in the region and around the U.S.

The National Hurricane Center said top winds are around 80 mph. It's expected to turn toward Arkansas later in the day.

The storm has cut power to millions of people.

The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily has waived certain gasoline requirements for nearly a dozen states that are dependent on supplies from the Gulf Coast. The action means that the states temporarily do not have to use less-polluting blends of gasoline, making it easier for them to use foreign imports on the U.S. market.

"In the meantime, the Department of Energy and state authorities will be monitoring a gasoline crisis so consumers are not being gouged," President George W. Bush said from the South Lawn of the White House.