Shell gas stations run dry (Washington State)

King 5 News ^ | 1/17/2004 | Heather Filkins

[lelio]

KIRKLAND, Wash. - Pulled in to fill up with premium or "plus" gasoline in the past few days only to find the pumps dry? You're not alone.

Shell stations across Puget Sound are finding it tough to keep fuel in stock.

The shortages are affecting shell gas stations. First they run out of the higher-end gasolines and then finally the regular unleaded runs dry as well.

Assistant manager Paleia Hopper at a busy Shell station in Kirkland had to turn customers away Friday, losing close to $4,000 in fuel sales.

"So when we don't have gas, what do we do?" she asked. "We've got our loyal customers that still come in for their smokes and a pack of gum, but that's not gonna keep us running."

Over the past two weeks, the station's supplier - Shell Gasoline out of Houston - has told managers varying stories about why they're not getting the gallons they need. First they said there were fires at the refinery.

"Now they say it's because of cold weather, so I don't know what they're doing ... it's just frustraing,"; said owner Bill Best.

Best was told 700 other shells across the country are dealing with the same low supplies.

Another station in Bellevue, east of Seattle, ran out of premium and plus twice this past week.

Although the gas and customers are back at

At Bill Best's station the gas and the customers are back, but they say it's a shell game predicting the future.

"Probably by the end of the weekend we'll be out again,"; said Best.

It was so bad Friday at that station that a guy ran out of gas and the manager had to drive him up the street to the Chevron station to fill up...

Calls to Shell's corporate office Saturday were not returned.

The shortage has affected prices as well. Many stations say they've raised the price of gas more than 15 to 20 cents a gallon in the last two weeks.

[lelio]

Any other stories across the nation? Is this just related to Shell?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Ping!

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Simply the preliminary to $3.19 per quart gasoline!

[snopercod]

King County Journal

The abrupt spike, likely caused by a Shell refinery in Anacortes unexpectedly going off-line during the cold snap, have given us perhaps the highest prices ever in January.

[anniegetyourgun]

No shortages here in FL - but price up about 10 cents from two weeks ago.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

If you want to know what is going on with gasoline supply, look at the price of gasoline futures and the spot price on the market.

[discostu]

Shell/ Texaco has been having problems for a while. They just sold 90% of their stations in Tucson to Exxon/ Mobile. It would appear that Shell/ Texaco is on the way to being a former gas supplier.

[Truth666]

the tip of the iceberg - Shell "seems" to have overestimated their oil reserves in Australia and Nigeria - from one day to the other it has lowered the numbers by 20% ... german :
http://www.manager-magazin.de/geld/artikel/0,2828,281114,00.html

[Dog Gone]

ChevronTexaco is not the same company as Shell.

[Orangedog]

Haven't seen any problems with Shell here in Ohio...yet. I hope they get their act together before this turns into a real problem for them. I've been using Shell gasoline exclusively for over 10 years. Never had any kind of fuel system problems with my cars since then. What BP does to their gasoline should be criminal.

[Cobra64]

ChevronTexaco is not the same company as Shell.

Correct. Texaco/Shell alliances are/were in Europe.

[MediaMole]

If it were a general shortage, regular would be the first to go. It must be killing Shell to be out of premium. Premium grades are the money makers.

Most of the price spikes lately appear to be related to the availablity of reformulated gas rather than the overall gas supply.

Watch the relationship between diesel and gasoline prices. If diesel goes up along with gas, there is an overall rise. If gas rises faster than diesel, it is related to reformulation.

[SW6906]

"Haven't seen any problems with Shell here in Ohio...yet. I hope they get their act together before this turns into a real problem for them. I've been using Shell gasoline exclusively for over 10 years. Never had any kind of fuel system problems with my cars since then. What BP does to their gasoline should be criminal."

Quite the opposite for me: Shell gas makes my car knock and ping. I use Chevron and/or Costco without any problems whatsoever.

Shell left WA state back in the eighties (IIRC), then came back in the late nineties (again, IIRC). I wonder if they're going under for good?

[discostu]

According to the credit card in my wallet, according to the Texaco card I used to have which they replaced with a Shell card, it's Shell and Texaco that together.

[SW6906]

I don't think we have any of that "reformulated gas in the winter" crap here in WA state.

[Justa]

It's not like there aren't 20,000 other places to get gasoline in WA. I can't wait for King5's expose' of the milk supply. Whole milk vs. 2% vs. lowfat vs. skim vs. 1% vs. Fat-Free vs. lactose-free, etc. Should be fascinating.

[expatpat]

Watch the relationship between diesel and gasoline prices. If diesel goes up along with gas, there is an overall rise. If gas rises faster than diesel, it is related to reformulation.

Good point, Mole.

[SaveTheChief]

I can confirm that they are having problems, as they are in the middle of a massive reorganization, er... layoff season here in Houston.

This is a company that looks sharp at the pump and in the convenience stores, but is having some serious problems at it's U.S. headquarters. As I understand it, things have not been the same since Texaco was purchased, mainly due to the pressures of having to make a significant profit off its investment in Texaco's assets. It is also a company that has been plagued with the bug of political correctness in it's hiring practices, and often well-qualified and competent people lose their jobs or are passed up when placed in a competition with women and minorities for the same positions.

Money is spent foolishly, and highly profitable operations under other companies have become only barely profitable under Shell. Unless they can see the folly of their ways, they (Shell U.S anyway) may be on their way to being a footnote in history.

[lelio]

Here's a KOMO TV story on the shortage. In it they say that all the gas stations should be affected as they all get gas from the same pool. That doesn't seem to make sense: why is Shell only mentioned? Perhaps they didn't plan ahead and buy enough contract supply from the refinery and now have to get it on the spot market.

Problems in Stamford, CT appear to be weather related.

[Hunble]

Good thing we had that "War for Oil!