RR commissioner: There's no fuel crisis in Texas

KHOU Houston ^ | 8-31-2017 | David Schechter and Marjorie Owens

[Snickering Hound]

DALLAS - As gas prices spike across Texas and fuel runs short at some gas stations, officials say there's no shortage of fuel in the state because of Harvey.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said consumers are putting undue demand on fuel and that's making it difficult to resupply gas stations in a timely fashion. He called the problem simply one of demand and logistics.

"There's plenty of gasoline," he said. "This will subside."

Sitton says he understands the worry as people drive up to gas stations and see high prices, long lines and red bags covering gas pumps.

But here's why this is happening, the commissioner says:

• Rumors spread of shortage, spurring rush to gas stations

• Gas stations see higher demand than usual

• Stations run out of gas at a high rate due to demand

• Station owners become concerned about supply, raise prices

• So many stations run out of gas it takes longer to resupply

Just like the banks, Sitton said there's plenty of supply, but it will take longer to get that gasoline to the stations due to the high demand.

• The entire world uses 100 million of refined product daily

• The U.S. refines 18 million of those 100 million barrels

• Six million of that 18 million is refined in Texas

• About half of that six million is currently offline or at reduced capacity due to Harvey

"So, yes, that's a lot," Sitton said. "However, we have 230 million barrels of gasoline in storage in the United States right now. So if that three million barrels of refined capacity stayed offline for an entire month that would be 90 million barrels that wouldn't be produced. That would be less than half of what we have in inventory."

[WildHighlander57]

HiTech RedNeck wrote:

“Panic driven spike?”

Could be that, plus the shut-down refineries.

[bert]

Perhaps it is panic driven but the market is a game. The players are playing today driving prices up hoping to get out before the lesser fool is left holding the bag.

[zeugma]

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said consumers are putting undue demand on fuel and that's making it difficult to resupply gas stations in a timely fashion. He called the problem simply one of demand and logistics.

He's exactly right. Within 2 weeks everything will be back to normal. I talked to a guy at a gas stationb yesterday and he said they had wankers coming in with multiple 5-gal cans to fill up along with their cars. Fortunately, I filled up my car last friday and have driven a whopping 17 miles on the full tank, since I don't have to commute.

For regular commuters though, this panic may adversely affect them.

[Common Sense 101]

Hate to be the one to tell you, Sparky... but 1) the overwhelming majority of the refined gas distributed to the Dallas area comes from the north, 2) there is plenty of gasoline supplies stored in area distribution centers around DFW. This is nothing more than panicked dumbasses believing media and other braindead morons on social media... nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[PAR35]

I guess you’ve never heard of the Explorer pipeline which has now come back online transporting from Houston to Dallas (but not onward TO Tulsa (you do know the difference between ‘to’ and ‘from’ don’t you?)

You can find out more about Explorer’s pipeline FROM Houston TO the Midwest through DFW here: http://www.expl.com/

Meanwhile, you can compare the capacities of Valero’s Ardmore refinery (85,000 barrels per day) with its refinery in Houston (380,000 bpd) or Port Arthur (290,000)

[Tuxedo]

Over 70% of the stations in San Antonio are sold out. One the way home from work a local Exxon (that was sold out last night) had lines down the street as they got replenished. An hour later, they were sold out again.... at $2.69/gallon. It was $1.98 pre-Harvey. The lines are causing traffic problems all over the city. My Bimmer is at 1/4 tank so hopefully a nearby station will restock over the weekend and I can sneak in and get 10 gallons.

[Common Sense 101]

You forgot to include the Phillips refinery (and another that slips my mind currently) to your capacity numbers generated from OK...

[PAR35]

Phillips is in Ponca City. You might look at a map for that. About 300 miles. It’s closer to Kansas City. Phillips does have a small pipeline from Ponca City to Oklahoma City, but it pales beside the northbound capacity of Explorer from the Gulf Coast to DFW and beyond. The Sweeney refinery is a little bigger than their Ponca City unit, but they are pretty close to the same size, so I won’t argue capacity on that.

As for other Oklahoma refineries, there’s Holly in Oklahoma City (about 150,000 bpd), and the small Wynnewood facility (70,000) No way they can step in to replace Exxon, Valero, and Shell.

Back to Phillips - there are only a handful of Phillips stations in DFW, although I realize the gasoline in the tanks is largely fungible and that additive packages are really all that is proprietary and that there are several ways to handle that, although only a Democrat tort lawyer would pay any attention to additives in the current situation.

I did hear last night from non-media sources that Texarkana was running out of gasoline, as well.

[Common Sense 101]

And? Bottom line... all of the stations in Plano/Frisco area that were out Friday are supplied and people are pumping gas today. Guess it was the magic unicorn fairy dust refinery that provided the refined gasoline, given that there is no gasoline anywhere...

[PAR35]

And the stations that had gas on Friday are out now?

No, I just checked. You are a liar:

Bottom line... all of the stations in Plano/Frisco area that were out Friday are supplied and people are pumping gas today.

Since you said 'all', all I have to do to prove you wrong is find one, and I did: Quik Trip 901 W. Park Plano. Out Friday, out now. The Race Trak at Alma and Park would technically meet your criteria - they had gas Friday, but are out now.

Perhaps if the Commissioner would hire social media staff locally instead of from out of town, his folks wouldn't make such easily disproved errors.

[Common Sense 101]

I’m guessing you have a lot of free time on your hands ass clown... bottom line - there is plenty of stations in the area that have gas today and the entire episode is due to nothing more than panic buying, no doubt like because of twits like you.

[PAR35]

Since you obviously don’t live in the area; you should do some independent internet research instead of sticking to the programmed talking points.

http://www.racetrac.com/gasshortage
“Due to Hurricane Harvey’s impact on oil refineries, some areas are experiencing temporary fuel outages. RaceTrac locations in Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida may have been impacted by this issue.”

https://www.quiktrip.com/gasoline
“Due to the unfortunate events from Hurricane Harvey, we are experiencing fuel outage in certain locations. Below is a list of stores that currently HAVE FUEL AVAILABLE. This list will be updated on a daily basis.”

And yes, I have a lot of free time to look at gas stations. Driving to and from work, going to the stores....

[Common Sense 101]

I live in Frisco...