Gov. Riley (Alabama) declares state of emergency over possible fuel shortages

Birmingham News ^ | 09/12/08

[kcat]

I guess everybody is panicing because there are longs waits for gas and gas stations are running out of gas here in Bham. FYI

[modest proposal]

I saw it for 4.20-something where I live. I have never paid over 3 for gas yet.

[GOYAKLA]

But does the station come down in price when wholesale goes down? Yes, next week, maybe. By the way my Brother worked for Chevron 30+ years at Distribution. You are close but.....

[dragnet2]

Gas dropped .4 cents in my area of Cal this morning.

[Paleo Conservative]

Could someone please explain to me why the gulf shutting down is causing such drastic things to happen?

Because about a quarter of the entire US refining capacity got shut down for hurricane Ike less than two weeks after the Louisana refineries shut down for Gustav. It doesn't really matter whether the crude oil used is domestic or imported; if the refining capacity is shut down, here is a shortage of refined products available.

[Mike Fieschko]

But does the station come down in price when wholesale goes down? Yes, next week, maybe.

Like most economic decision, the answer is 'it depends.' I've seen prices drop not as fast as they went up, and prices drop as fast as they went up. Part of the 'it depends' is what stations nearby are charging.

[Paleo Conservative]

Texas is where oil is refined (well, a lot of it). All the crude in the world won't fill your gas or diesel vehicle's tank if the refineries are closed.

And if Ike's surge is as high as has been predicted, the refineries will probably be damaged, and it will take even longer to get them going again than the refineries in Louisiana. Don't forget that lots of the refinery output was sent to gas stations along evacuation routes in Texas to facilitate evacuations.

[Nashvegas]

Gas jumped 40 cents today in Nashville.

[MamaB]

I live in HSV and my granddaughter just came by to trade the Yukon for my Honda Accord. A friend of hers just paid $4.30 and the news showed a station with a price of $5.39. Crazy!

[Paleo Conservative]

Agreed. However it goes beyond drilling - we also need to increase refining capacity. The Green Party Envirowacko Wing of the Democrat Party, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid will make sure that doesn't happen:

But it really does no good for diversifying risks if the additional refining capacity is added at the existing gulf coast ports. What's needed is building more refineries in other parts of the country, so less of the total refining capacity is affected by one or two hurricanes.

[MrPiper]

I saw it for 4.20-something where I live. I have never paid over 3 for gas yet.

Where is that!! Have you been driving in the last year?

[modest proposal]

Oh I am sorry. I meant over 4 and made a typo. Haha.

Yeah I have never paid over 3 for gas in the big rock candy mountain lol. It trickles out of the rocks.

[EdReform]

What's needed is building more refineries in other parts of the country, so less of the total refining capacity is affected by one or two hurricanes.

Agreed. However, as was pointed out in the excerpt I posted in reply 12, no matter where you choose to build it (Illinois in this case), the Democrat Party will oppose it.

[DixieLadyMom]

We hare in south Alabama are out of gas I was trying to fill up my car today around 3pm and it ran out and the price went from as of yesterday 3.55 to 4.09

What are we going to do no gas ?

[FreedomPoster]

Exactly. Bush is making similar statements about “stopping gouging”, according to a FNC report a few minutes ago.

Let the market work, guys.