East Coast Gas Shortage

[elcheapo]

Anyone been having trouble getting gas in GA, SC or NC due to Pipeline break in AL ?

[GoPackGo]

I think that one of the things to notice is that there is no 'extra' capacity in the system. Any little hiccup translates into a shortage at the pump. Normal demand pretty much uses up all the fuel that is available. Not good.

[Dutch_12078]

Beaker wrote:
Is shortage just gas or also diesel?

There is no "shortage", just a distribution imbalance in some places. Only gas is affected by the pipeline break. Colonial ships diesel and jet fuel through a separate pipeline that they're now using to also ship gas. The few stations that are seeing outages are also seeing higher than normal demand that's outstripping the available capacity to resupply them.

[coolbreeze01]

Cheapest regular in town is $2.39.....$3.29 high. No reason, just how it is.

[chops1sc]

I definitely think the media is making it out to be worse than it is. The panic is what is leading to shortages. I'm going to try to conserve as much as I can to get through this "crisis" so I don't have to worry about it.

[Dutch_12078]

According to the Tennessee Emergency Management director, the only reason there are shortages is because people are hoarding gas by filling their tanks before they need to and filling every possible container as a hedge against price increases. He said the excessive demand would have caused spot shortages even without the pipeline break. Colonial is currently using their second pipe line to ship gas, along with its usual diesel and jet fuel payloads. I noticed that the Pilot station near Heiskell, TN on I-75 was at $1.99 last week, and is still at $1.99 today with plenty of pump traffic, so apparently the break hasn't had any effect there.

[charwan]

Horizon170 wrote:
Diesel here is 10 cents cheaper ($2.29 gal) than gasoline.
Dealers are using a broken gas line as an excuse to price gouge. The broken part of the line is supposed to be bypassed in a day or so. REAL shortage----NO. IMO
Marvin

Lay in bed last night and something came to mind. As a young man I worked at a fuel hauling company down on Middlebrook Pk. at the tank farm in Knoxville. There are two company's that have fuel lines from tx. Plantantion pipe line and Colonial Pipe Line. Colonial cannot care all the fuel the East coasts uses. Only the companies that use it will be out after several days. However the big boys will buy fuel from the company's that are on PPL. The lines run from Doraville Ga. to Knoxville to Spartainburg S.C. We hauled fuel from Shell to Gulf about 3 blocks from each other one time.. For instance if Racetrac is on Colonial and Quick Trip is on PPL then Racetrac will be out and Quick Trip will have fuel. However I would think Race Trac will sell Quick Trip fuel. Mom and pop may be out but the big boys won't. MO2cents

[atwowheelguy]

D.E.Bishop wrote:
WE left Charleston on Sunday and gas next to the hotel where our reunion was, showed $1.89 at the pump.

Charleston gets their fuel off the water, not the pipeline.

[D_E_Bishop]

WE left Charleston on Sunday and gas next to the hotel where our reunion was, showed $1.89 at the pump.

[Bird_Freak]

Some stations are out in Dallas,Rome and Calhoun, Ga.

[westend]

Colonial Pipeline is owned by a few big oil companies. There is tank farm in Atlanta and a few other cities. There may be an increase in price if longer hauling from distributor to stations.

All I know is that the day the US went into Kuwait, the refinery I was pulling diesel from locked the gates at 12:00 PM and the next day, price nearly doubled. I had told our buyer to load up as much as we could hold in the morning because my NYMEX evaluator broadcasted that big oil had met, smoked a few cigars, and had come up with a raise of $.05/gal. My advice was not heeded and we paid $40K for that dawdling.

[Horizon170]

Diesel here is 10 cents cheaper ($2.29 gal) than gasoline.
Dealers are using a broken gas line as an excuse to price gouge. The broken part of the line is supposed to be bypassed in a day or so. REAL shortage----NO. IMO
Marvin

[Beaker]

Is shortage just gas or also diesel?

[lawnspecialties]

Several stations in the Raleigh area are completely out of gas.

[NanciL]

We just drove from Salisbury NC to Mitchell county in the NC mountains arriving around noon.
The gas stations along I-40 were mostly out with bags over most of the pumps.
When we got to Spruce Pine, the Walmart gas station Near the Blue ridge Parkway was completely out, but father away in Spruce Pine we were able to fill up.
I am guessing that if they didn't have deliveries, they are probably all out by now.

jack L

[WTP-GC]

Cousin in Asheville-area says gas is nowhere to be found. Events are being cancelled...