what the heck???? why aren't you getting fuel?

ASHEVILLE – The timing of back-to-back Hurricanes Gustav and Ike is partly to blame for gas shortages that have been worse than those following more destructive storms in the same Gulf Coast region, experts and industry officials say.

The storms hit at a time when refineries had decreased production to switch from summer-grade to winter-grade fuel, said Tex Pitfield, president of gas hauler Saraguay Petroleum Corp. in Atlanta.

Gustav took some refineries down Sept. 1, and Ike hit just as they were getting back online. Together, the storms knocked out nine gas refineries and heavily damaged about 10 others in just 11 days.

That’s meant almost a month of lagging supply coming from the Gulf Coast region through the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies fuel to a swath of the country that includes Western North Carolina. The pipeline is running at 75 percent capacity.

Panic buying that started the day Ike made landfall consumed gas left at WNC stations, creating a shortage that the fuel companies couldn’t fill because the refineries were still down.

Wholesalers told their contract customers they wouldn’t be getting full shipments.

Small, independent stations — which are common in the WNC — found they couldn’t get gas because they buy without contract guarantees.

“When there is a shortage, based on contractual arrangements, the independent gas stations are cut off first,” Karl Knapp, research and policy analysis for the N.C. League of Municipalities, said in an e-mail to county managers Thursday. “Since Western North Carolina is mostly supplied by independent dealers, the shortages are more acute there.”

Now, 25 days after Gustav and 14 days after Ike, the region is still short on gas. Experts say the shortage could continue another week.

“We passed Katrina and Rita last week,” Pitfield said.

The timeframe is significant because Katrina in 2005 did almost double the estimated $45 billion in damage that came with Gustav and Ike — yet the gas shortages that followed Katrina lasted barely a week.

Hurricane Rita that same year knocked out 12 refineries and damaged five others. But what followed was a price spike to $3.17 a gallon — not a massive shortage.

Pitfield doesn’t look for it to get better in Atlanta for another week. He bets it will be a day or two after that before WNC sees significant relief.

“There is just no product,” he said.

He said the gas market doesn’t reward companies for stockpiling fuel to sell during a shortage because of the daily changes in price.

That was echoed by other industry experts.

“It is not just Asheville,” said James Smith, chief economist at Parsec Financial Management, an Asheville-based financial adviser. “It’s a large combination of things — one of them clearly is just about everybody who provides gas has really poor strategic planning.”

sounds like a B movie

sounds like a B movie

horatio said:

Try living it




sucks HUGE on one hand and then holds GREAT lessons on the other

Gray

I was out of gas last week monday - friday as was my dad

Not a single gas station in our county had gas

Did you know that many people all over the US didn't even know about our areas gas trouble



people were pulling guns on each other in Charlotte man ...

guess we arn't worth the news



.
[Edited 9/29/08 7:17am]

emm said:

closed the pipeline for the Texas hurricane 2 weeks ago ( or more )

they say it was open OVER a week ago now ...

Mach said:

Yeah i live nearby in fort mill and watching the news was disturbing. I saw
two ladies arguing with each other because one felt the other was trying
to cut in front of her on carowinds blvd. I was like the hell with this man i can get gas 1 or 2 in the morning especially since i work 3rd shift anyway.
I just can't imaginge grown ass men and women arguing and fighting over gas.
I guess the shortage was worse in charlotte given the growing population but damn. Fort Mill and Rock Hill would be out at times but most of the times i had no problem finding gas in Rock Hill. Come on cross the state line if you have to but leave all the damn gun toters in charlotte behind if you don't mind.

Mach said:

Good Grief!!!!

Gray

I was out of gas last week monday - friday as was my dad

Not a single gas station in our county had gas

Did you know that many people all over the US didn't even know about our areas gas trouble



people were pulling guns on each other in Charlotte man ...

guess we arn't worth the news



.
[Edited 9/29/08 7:17am]

Mach said:

huh???? for real?

XxAxX said:

SERIOUSLY

many people think it's a joke

It's NOT

we're living this folks

phunkdaddy said:

It's a bit frustrating though I have and keep a level head

I can drive 35 minutes to Newport TN and there is gas with no cars in line
Yet friday here the law was surrounding the local stations and keeping the peace when people would show up and act an ass when the stations were NOT selling gas @ noon

craziness I tell ya

Mach said:

I'm going out at 2:00 AM 2 fill up all of my cars.

Graycap23 said:

I think we finally got gas delivered here to the 2 closest stations on sat night
I have not been out yet today to see if the lines are long or if gas is still available. I also wonder if the law is still camped out at them ...

horatio said:

Try living it




sucks HUGE on one hand and then holds GREAT lessons on the other

Did you know that many people all over the US didn't even know about our areas gas trouble