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.
Yes. And more on FR should understand that this is something that really might be fault of the oil man in the White House.
In 6 years, there has been almost no leadership on the oil issue. No incentive to increase refinery capacity, no WH-led push to increase domestic production, no coherent oil policy, no nuthin'. Of course, you can blame it on Environmentalists and Democrats and Arabs and Chavez and Mexico. Bottom Line: No Bush Leadership on the issue.
Instead, what do we have? This ethanol nonsense again.
Newsflash: Corn requires lots of POL to produce.
This is a very poor example of supply and demand. The supplies of crude oil are at an 8-year high. The distribution is controlled at the refinery level, with us having the same refining capacity we had in 1960.
THanks, W! You're a'fixin' to leave us with your legacy: $5 gasoline, a Democrat Congress, and Hillary as our next president.
You are sounding bit hostile. And missed my point. That point is that Brazil was looking ahead and came up with a solution. We have not done that in the U.S. and need to do so before we end up crippled by the prices.
Thank you again Dems.
But it is really time to IMMEDIATELY rescind the regulations prescribing "boutique blends", ethanol, and other government mandated blending techniques. Let the market decide.
Building some more refineries and about two dozen nuclear power plants would help too.
I beg your pardon. I live in Montana and run 85-15 gas-ethanol in my Chevy truck year round. It purrs like a kitten and starts with ease in sub-zero temperatures.
this has nothing to do with supply and demand.
the problem is, every two years,
the gasoline laws change
Typically the gas runs out cheapest first. It was that way in 1973, last year and today.
How are things in Montana, and when are you ever getting rid of that noxious senior senator of yours?
AND it's time to start building refineries again!
U.S. supplies of crude are at record highs, but we can't turn it into gasoline!
AND it's time to do away with the $.54/gallon tax on ethanol used for a fuel additive, since we apparently cannot produce the stuff fast enough.
Please read this report from a couple months ago.
Brazil Sugar Ethanol Update – February 2006, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service"
It reports that ethanol accounts for approximately 15% of the fuel used in Brazil. A higher percentage if you only consider passenger cars.
What Brazil has done that made the biggest difference in the last decade was start producing much more of its petroleum resources. If you will look at the following link, you will see how they quit needing foreign oil.
Because of what ethanol does to the tanks:
imagine what it'll do to your car's fuel system.
I wonder if there was an estimate in that bill of how much this switchover was/is gonna cost. And of there was, I wonder how much off target it's gonna be? I bet at least 60%. Lowball it so it'll pass.
retailers must clean their tanks, remove all water and install extremely fine filters on their pumps. Terminals have to clean storage tanks, too.
Do I need to clean the tank in my car and install a different filter?
Sounds like "water in the gas" is about to take on an expanded meaning.
When I filled up 2 days ago here in south Mississippi, the Shell station had a $50 limit set on the pumps.
Got it. A brilliant move on their part.
Of course, you are absolutely correct. But I was absolutely incorrect to think that an oil man, like GW, was going to lead the charge to fix some of this crap when I voted for him.
I repeat, $5 gasoline and 50 Million Mexicans are not much of a legacy. Of course, most Republicans will not desert the colors. What I fear is that enough will stay home to give us Democrat government and a situation on all fronts that will be much worse than at present.
W is a very good president. But he is not a leader and a terrible or worse communicator... a great guy who is going to wind up screwing us all if we cannot get him to snap out of it for his last 2 years.
Tell that to the hundreds of sugar beet farmers here in Michigan - also tell all the workers at the sugar refineries, churning out sugar by the tons every hour.
2" snow on Easter Sunday. Max isn't up for re-election until 2008. With all of his health problems (pacemaker, subdural hematoma, motorcycle wreck) I keep hoping that he won't run.
While it's tempting to laugh and shout "Shadenfreude", the fear that these may spread is no laughing matter. The lib-leninist hold over the energy policy of this country may cripple us just as surely as price controls.
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