Posted on 04/21/2006 5:13:16 AM PDT by Bloodclot
Gas stations in three East Coast states ran out of fuel on Thursday as gas prices soared. Shortages were reported in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania starting on Thursday afternoon. They could last as long as 30 days.
NBC 10 was live at one gas station when the pumps went dry at rush hour.
Catherine Rossi, a spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, says she knows of eight stations in the Philadelphia region that were out of fuel yesterday.
Wayne Hummel of Liberty Petroleum says there's a derth of fuel in the New York and Philadelphia areas. He says four of the 40 stations Liberty supplies in the Philadelphia region ran out of fuel in the last two days.
Refiners are switching to fuel formulations containing corn-based ethanol, prompted by the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005. To do that, retailers must clean their tanks, remove all water and install extremely fine filters on their pumps. Terminals have to clean storage tanks, too.
An NBC 10 news team was at a Wilmington, Del., gas station on Thursday afternoon, where reporter Bill Baldini informed drivers pulling up to the pumps that the station was on empty.
On Thursday night, reporter Kristen Welker had the same experience at a Northern Liberties gas station. Closer to home for NBC10.com, a Luk Oil station just blocks from our station was out of gas as news trucks hit the street to report the Thursday afternoon news.
Stations in New Jersey and in several other Pennsylvania areas are also out of fuel, or only selling premium fuel, AAA told NBC 10.
Rossi said the shortages were expected to be temporary.
By temporary, AAA and other experts said the shortage situation could last for as long as 30 days.
The news was unwelcome to drivers who saw a big jump at the gas pumps recently.
On Thursday morning, NBC 10 reported that prices at some local gas stations had hit $3 per gallon.
An NBC 10 news van stopping in Conshohocken, Pa., saw gas selling for $3.09 for a gallon of regular unleaded at a local station.
Don't expect those prices to go down in the near future.
Overseas on Thursday, crude oil prices hit a new record intraday high of $72.49 after weekly data showed a drop in U.S. gasoline stocks.
This is raising worries that refiners don't have an adequate inventory cushion ahead of the peak summer driving season.
The previous record intraday price, set Wednesday, was $72.40 a barrel.
It left me feeling like our officials have been asleep at the switch with their attention in the wrong place; like all these regulations. Instead of coming up with more ways to clean up oil they should have been following Brazil's lead and switched technologies.
The day the enviro-nazis have to walk to work will be the day the chickens have finally come home to roost. I also wish for the day when Mel Martinez, Bill Nelson, Babs Boxer, and Di Fi won't be able to make it to the Senate chambers because there is no way to get them from FL and CA, thanks to their opposition to drilling for oil off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. It's time the coasts pay big time for the crazy enviro-nazi regulations they've saddled the US with for the past 25 years. I just wish TX and LA could cut off the Gulf supply to both coasts and we'd get to hear some real whining from the clueless.
The transition phase, however, is going to irritate a lot of people which will unfortunately invite unwelcomed political interference.
This whole ethanol thing is nothing but welfare for farmers. It takes more energy to grow, harvest and distil the ethanol than will ever come out of it. It is far cheaper to take petroleum and synthesize ethanol than to make it from bio fuels. It's nothing but government payola to farmers.
I have posted this info before but here it goes again: Every rig in the US is working and has been for the last 2 years. There is a 2-4 month wait if you want to drill a new well.
And switching back to 55 mph speed limits. Dems love nanny state regs.
"What is truly strange is that PA-NJ-DE have seven major oil refineries, with about 10% of national refining capacity. I could understand shortages down south, since places like Georgia and Florida and North Carolina apparently don't believe in oil refining, as they certainly don't have any refineries, but its strange to have shortages here."
Is it really a shortage, or are the retailers simply refusing to buy inventory at such high prices? Gas station retailers only make about 2 cents per gallon. That's why most gas stations have convenience stores now. It's the only way they can make money.
It wasn't Cooper's voice doing the segment. And I, for one, couldn't care less what stock he holds. I don't care if he owns the whole company (ADM). I'm glad they did the show.
You bet $4/gallon is coming. When I read about "shortages" in the northeast you know darn well what's happening. We've all seen it before.
The Rats won't have to propose anything. All they will have to say is,"big oil, lobbyist, Republican, $3.00 a gallon". If someone ask what they would do they would say,"tax big oil".
Brazil has stopped all direct subidies to sugar producers.
Last fall, right after the hurricanes, a rumor started a "gas panic" here in Georgia.
Went out at noon, no problem-- went back out at dinner time, lines going down the streets at all gas station entrances, cars broken down in the heat from long waits idling-- it was an ugly sight.
We need to serious about using the energy we own, under our own land, and offshore.
If Castro can drill 45 miles off the Gulf Coast, why can't we?
There's no excuse for this.
I'm a Republican as it gets-but I've had with these Oil prices. The Republican pr machine has completely brken down. We're in big trouble
Sure we'll get screwed but they'll just blame everyone before them and claim they're working on fixing it for at least the next 3 years.
I think we should wait another 30 years, declare we're "addicted to oil", and then repeat the cycle.
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