Posted on 09/11/2008 3:58:35 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The impending landfall of Hurricane Ike has caused issues with the price of gas and limits in South Carolina according to officials.
"Hurricane Ike is projected to hit landfall in Texas Friday or Saturday and in anticipation of its storm path, refineries in the Gulf of Mexico have closed," said David E. Parsons, CEO and President of AAA Carolinas.
Michael Fields with the South Carolina Petroleum Marketers Association says gas prices have risen throughout the day and will continue to do so on the wholesale and retail level.
"Gas prices have gone up and some stations have placed a restriction on the number of gallons customers can buy because it is unclear right now how long the refineries will remain closed or if they will sustain any damage," Parsons said.
Fields has also heard of several stations in the state such as the Pee Dee, the Lowcountry and the Upstate that are rationing gas out to customers.
In Sumter, all Kangaroo gas stations are imposing at 10 gallon limit. At the Kangaroo on Broad Street, they have put up a sign asking customers to limit their gas purchases.
An attendant at the station says they aren't enforcing the limit at the moment, but may have to Friday and over the weekend.
Fields adds that all this is a preemptive move with Ike because of what happened with Hurricane Katrina. He calls the current situation "volatile" and says there is a concern about how much fuel will be available after Ike hits.
"The worst thing that could happen would be for motorists to flock to gas stations to top off their tanks," said Parsons. "That will worsen the situation before anyone knows what the damage will be. We encourage people not to panic, drive conservatively and don't take unnecessary trips until the damage assessment is completed early next week."
Parsons says this gas spike comes on the heels of the closing of some refineries in the past few days based on the expected path of Hurricane Gustav, which did not cause any major damage and the refineries reopened and put more oil into the pipeline.
Parsons said most refineries made significant changes to their oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina three years ago and these upgrades are designed to protect against hurricanes.
Count on WIS News 10 to keep you updated on this developing story. If you'd like to monitor Hurricane Ike yourself, click here to go to our Hurricane Center.
Meanwhile in East Tennessee, Gas prices are still falling and the gap between diesel and gas is steadily eroding.
I bought Diesel yesterday for lowest price in a very long time. $3.83
Where do you think the fuel from you car is refined? Between offshore platforms in the gulf shut down and the refineries in Texas shut down, there's a shortage all over the whole southeast.
Daughter in TN said prices posted at midnight will be around 5 bucks a gallon and she’s heard reports of rationing there, as well.
The lady at the restaurant I was at this evening said 2 or 3 stations were out of gas in Sumter. I hope this is a localized thing.
I know. I hope it is local only.
Total madness! The rumor spread like wildfire through my workplace about 4:00pm. I’m in Charleston. Sad thing is my tank was on empty; I felt like a fool waiting in line to get gas around 7:30. People were filling extra tanks and putting them in the trunk! It was like being in the middle of a sci-fi movie.
Your statement would lead to misguided policy. Criminalizing markets would inhibit market functioning. The price is rising because there is a severe shortage. Panick buying will accerbate the problem. The price increase is a signal to stop hording gasoline.
The only alternative to price increases when there is a shortage is rationing and price controls. Rationing has many drawbacks as black markets typically develop to allocate resources that are not efficiently allocated by rationing.
Gas Prices Soar, Long Lines at Stations Everywhere
SUMTER, S.C. (AP, WLTX) - Gasoline prices are rising fast in the Midlands, and there are long lines out there—and even some stations running out of fuel.
In Wedgefield in Sumter County, South Carolina, gas was selling for $5.23 a gallon Thursday night. There were reports of other stations selling for over five dollars a gallon in the county.
(Seen a Really High Gas Price? Tell Us Where, and Send Us Your Pictures Here)
Lines are long over there and all across the Midlands, including Columbia. It was bumper-to-bumper at many stations, after people began hearing that prices could rise suddenly. In some cases, police had to be called to stations to make an orderly process at the pump.
At one gas station on Rosewood Drive, drivers are being told they can’t get more than eight gallons of gas in their cars, and similar caps are being put in place at other stations.
Some stations have already run out of regular unleaded.
And there is a chance that things are going to go up even further over several days.
The wholesale price of gasoline ranged from $4 to nearly $5 a gallon in the U.S. Gulf Coast throughout the day on Thursday, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.
That was up significantly from about $3 to $3.30 a gallon on Wednesday, Kloza said, and the surge drove up wholesale prices in other U.S. regions, too.
“We’re looking at the highest wholesale prices ever for a huge swath of the country,” he said. “People understand that regardless of what happens with Ike, it’s going to shut down the biggest refining cluster for a period of five, six, seven days.”
Wholesale prices are what refineries charge retailers. Retailers then mark up those prices for the customer to make a profit, so if these wholesale prices hold, it could mean that pump prices for U.S. drivers easily break through the July 17 record of $4.114 a gallon.
The average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline was at $3.671 Thursday, according to the Oil Price Information Service, auto club AAA and Wright Express.
Hurricane Ike, following last week’s Hurricane Gustav, was expected to blow ashore early Saturday somewhere between Corpus Christi and Houston. Some forecasters predict it will strengthen from a Category 2 storm, with winds near 100 mph, to a Category 4. Ike ripped through Cuba and killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean.
And it’s affect on America’s fuel production is largely to blame for the increases we’re seeing.
Texas is home to 26 refineries that account for one-fourth of U.S. refining capacity. Most are clustered along the Gulf Coast near such cities as Houston, Port Arthur and Corpus Christi. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s plant in Baytown, outside Houston, is the nation’s largest refinery.
Refineries are built to withstand high winds, but flooding can disrupt operations and, as happened in Louisiana after Gustav, power outages can shut down equipment for days or weeks.
The big question, however, is whether a possible disruption in gasoline distribution, not to mention the slow economy, would crimp demand and drive gasoline prices back down again.
“This could end up looking just like Katrina, whereby prices spiked substantially and came down just as hard,” said Linda Rafield, senior oil analyst for Platts, the energy research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita scoured the Gulf Coast in 2005, she said, “the U.S. economy was in the mature phase of a business expansion.” Now, the economy is slowing, so demand could suffer even more
Cars jam gas lines here in Ike panic
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080911/NEWS/809110232&title=Cars_jam_gas_lines_in_Ike_panic
Published: Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 8:17 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 9:23 p.m.
Cars jammed gas pumps Thursday night as motorists tried to fill up, apparently in anticipation of a gas shortage or price spike in advance of Ike’s expected landfall in a major refining area in Texas.
Emergency management officials, however, said there was no reason to fear a shortage and cautioned against a panic that would create one.
“I think people remember some of the gas issues after Katrina and they’re just kind of anticipating that,” said Henderson County emergency management director and fire marshal Rocky Hyder.
Cars lined up six to eight deep at stations throughout the area, including the Wal-Mart station, the Quality Plus at Etowah and the Ingles on Spartanburg Highway. Gas was as low as $3.59 at QP and Ingles but $3.75 and up at other stations.
“I think people are just making sure they fill up,” Hyder said. “I talked to my counterpart in Macon County and they’re experiencing the same thing.”
Although Hurricane Gustav caused some supply disruption, Hyder said emergency management officials have not been told of any disruption so far from Ike.
“This type of situation can be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said. “If they go out and fill up everything they have, it can create a shortage.”
Hurricanes cause local gas shortage
Some Knoxville gas stations are facing a gas shortage.
According to suppliers and gas station employees, the recent Hurricane Gustav and now Hurricane Ike are slowing supplies.
Rick Davis, the vice president of Cummins Terminal, said there is about 30% less gas coming through the two pipelines that supply Knoxville. The storms have disrupted the pipeline system that feeds the Southeast. Refineries along the Gulf Coast remain down due to the lingering power outages from Gustav. Plants in Houston are shutting down for safety reasons in anticipation of Ike.
Davis said gas will be tight in the next few weeks. Some independent stations that don’t have contracts or their own product will have a difficult time getting gas.
Several local Weigel’s convenience stores reported they are temporarily out of some grades of gas. Weigel’s president told 10 News they are trying to purchase gas from other cities.
Some Citgos will likely struggle in the coming weeks as well, according to Davis.
Pilot Corporation, which has its own supply and contract, said it is taking steps to keep as much gasoline available to the public as possible. The company has multiple locations in other states and 300 trucks available to shift fuel supplies in order to minimize local impacts. They asked customers to fuel their vehicles as normal.
There has been no official word about how this will affect gas prices.
Stay with WBIR for more updates.
Just went out to fuel my van at 11:00pm here in Charleston, SC. (It’s on empty..not a panic buy.) The pumps were dry! Folks are sitting at home with jerry cans full of gas while people who need it go wanting. All based on a rumor. I shudder to think how we’ll react in the face of a real emergency.
I think we need to rethink our energy policy.
Just went out to fuel my van at 11:00pm here in Charleston, SC. (It’s on empty..not a panic buy.) The pumps were dry! Folks are sitting at home with jerry cans full of gas while people who need it go wanting. All based on a rumor. I shudder to think how we’ll react in the face of a real emergency.
~~~
Not a rumor,,,
Post # 14 has some info as to why the price is going up,,,
No Crude No Fuel Production !
Refineries down,,,No Fuel Production,,,
Ain’t gunna be in production for a few weeks...:0/
The American people can thank all of the NIMBYS in this country and their allies in state houses and Congress for this. What do you expect when you allow one area to be the base for our oil and refining capacity in this country? It is no different than what happen in 1941 when we parked the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor.
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