Posted on 09/12/2001 5:57:24 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
Fears that gasoline prices would rise overnight to as much as $6 per gallon caused a panic Tuesday as motorists overran Kansas City area service stations and drained some of them dry by early evening. For the rest of the story click on the Kansas City Star link above.
Here in Kansas City the only chain that seems to have done that was Conoco. Amaco and Texaco have the same price this morning as they had yesterday morning and the day before that. Conoco, on the other hand, immediately upped their prices anywhere between $1 and $3.50 a gallon. They dropped them sometime last night, after the Attorney General asked people to send in their receipts for the price fixing charges to follow, but they are still 20 higher than yesterday.
How about in other cities?
By Brad Foss
The Associated Press
Posted September 12 2001, 1:24 AM EDT
NEW YORK -- Motivated by fears that gasoline supplies could be disrupted following terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, gas stations in various parts of the country jacked up their prices and motorists lined up to fill up their tanks.
The nation's largest oil companies tried to allay concerns on Tuesday by freezing their prices and pledging to keep distribution steady; their efforts seemed to have little immediate impact.
The R and L Texaco in Oklahoma City increased the price of unleaded gasoline to $5 a gallon after a supplier told owner Lewis Pfenninger it was unclear when the next shipment would be available and at what price.
At the Sunshine Conoco in Springfield, Mo., gas prices were raised after the attacks by 40 cents a gallon to $1.99 a gallon.
In California, gasoline wholesalers raised prices by as much as 20 cents a gallon on supply fears, although traders said there was no evidence of a shortage.
Exxon Mobil and BP, the nation's two largest oil companies, sought to calm energy markets, telling traders that supplies would not be hampered — except around New York City. The companies urged consumers not to stockpile gasoline.
“We are asking all of our customers to maintain their normal buying habits,” Exxon Mobil spokesman Tom Cirigliano said late Tuesday. “We have ample supplies. We're trying to avoid an artificial shortage.”
In Washington, the American Petroleum Institute, the industry trade group, issued a statement reassuring motorists that there is no threat of a fuel shortage.
“Fuels are flowing normally to wholesale and retail markets throughout the United States,” said the API, adding that gasoline and diesel fuel inventories “are adequate to meet demand.”
“Refinery production remains strong,” said the trade group.
But as distribution terminals closed down around the country for security reasons and motorists worried there wouldn't be enough fuel, gasoline prices rose almost immediately in parts of the Midwest.
Prices had already been soaring in the Midwest because of distribution bottlenecks that were in effect long before Tuesday's catastrophe.
“It's supply and demand,” said Pfenninger, owner of the Texaco station in Oklahoma City where gas sold for $5 a gallon. “My lines were so long.”
Pfenninger said he could have sold out his supply at that price, but decided to close early. He said he would reconsider the price hike on Wednesday.
In Tulsa, Brandon Disney waited in his car at the pumps at a QuickTrip store.
“I'm just filling up, so I don't have to fight anybody to get gas if there is a shortage,” he said
Authorities in Oklahoma were investigating instances of price-gouging, while Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore asked Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to declare a state of emergency, which would allow prosecutors to pursue price-gougers there.
Moore said he had received reports of gas prices doubling to as much as $3.60 a gallon within hours.
Greg Seiter, a spokesman at the AAA Hoosier Motor Club in Indiana, said his office has received reports of prices rising to $3 and $4 a gallon in parts of Indiana — including Anderson, Bloomington and Indianapolis — in the wake of the attacks.
“Obviously that's a reaction to the events of this morning. What happened immediately after (the attacks) was the price of crude oil in overseas trading climbed suddenly,” Seiter said.
The AAA's national office is urging retailers not to impose large price increases.
Nationwide, the retail price of unleaded gasoline is $1.54 a gallon.
Tom Kloza, director of Oil Price Information Service, a Lakewood, N.J., publisher of oil industry data, said he expects petroleum companies to act with restraint in the face of intense marketplace jitters.
“To be raising prices frenetically in this atmosphere makes the entire situation more difficult,” he said. “The last thing the American public needs to think about right now is that they need to be racing out to load up on fuel.”
___________________________________________________
Gas went up 18 cents in 4 hours in Reno, Nevada yesterday. I don't know what it is today.
I'm not sure how to do it yet, but there'll be a boycott of the stations who decided it was a good time to scalp and despitefully use their fellow Americans in this time of crisis. May the money-grubbing bastards 'die' a sloooow, loss-of-income 'death'.
Aside from that, how come the national average is $1.54 - and we flip between $1.75 - $1.89?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.