Gas Shortage (Greenville, Myrtle Beach, Easley: loans, school, prices)

[NoodlesKnowles]

Originally Posted by The Drizzle

The reason stations are running out is because everyone is rushing to get gas. Stations fill up based on a projected schedule of sales. Some stations/distributors weren't expecting everyone to panic and get gas, thus the tanks are out. I'm sure there will be tanker trucks on the road today to refill the tanks.

Actually the distributors are holding back gas because they are predicting a shortage, they want to make sure there is enough AFTER the storms are over. I spoke with a gas station owner today who says they aren't delivering as much as he wants to order. It has nothing to do with how many people are rushing to get gas, don't you think they would have triple ordered this week to keep up with the demand if that were the case??? Stations are still running out of gas and its been almost a week now that this has been going on, must be that station owners are so dumb they can't figure out they need to order more gas.

[guestposter24]

Originally Posted by The Drizzle

The cost depends on who the distributor is and what they are charging, coupled with their cost, labor, whether the tanks in the station are privately owned, etc. Just because a station is in a rural area doesn't dictate the price. Case in point, the Lil Cricket on Mauldin Road was the most expensive we saw and it's not in a rural area.

Oh I just read that a while back.

[g-man430]

Ingles this morning: $4.52
Ingles this afternoon: $3.74

[The Drizzle]

Originally Posted by NoodlesKnowles

Actually the distributors are holding back gas because they are predicting a shortage, they want to make sure there is enough AFTER the storms are over. I spoke with a gas station owner today who says they aren't delivering as much as he wants to order. It has nothing to do with how many people are rushing to get gas, don't you think they would have triple ordered this week to keep up with the demand if that were the case??? Stations are still running out of gas and its been almost a week now that this has been going on, must be that station owners are so dumb they can't figure out they need to order more gas.

Which is exactly why political leaders, economists, and people I know that work in the petroleum industry (that are a little more knowledgeable then the average gas station owner) are telling us that there is no gas shortage. Why would gas stations "triple order" more gas since they can get more of a price for what they have. They create the preception that this is a shortage so that people will be ok with paying over $4 a gallon.

Again, 1/5 of our petroleum comes from the Gulf. There is no shortage. This is fabricated supply and demand fueled by unfounded panic. It kind of reminds of of the way the area reacted to the "snow storm" we had last winter (not to say that the panic is only happening here, but people in this area seem to take things to extremes).

[NoodlesKnowles]

Originally Posted by The Drizzle

Which is exactly why political leaders, economists, and people I know that work in the petroleum industry (that are a little more knowledgeable then the average gas station owner) are telling us that there is no gas shortage. Why would gas stations "triple order" more gas since they can get more of a price for what they have. They create the preception that this is a shortage so that people will be ok with paying over $4 a gallon.

Again, 1/5 of our petroleum comes from the Gulf. There is no shortage. This is fabricated supply and demand fueled by unfounded panic. It kind of reminds of of the way the area reacted to the "snow storm" we had last winter (not to say that the panic is only happening here, but people in this area seem to take things to extremes).

Why would gas stations order more supply? Oh yeah because they'd rather run out and not make any money at all right?

1/5 of THE US gas supply comes from the gulf, probably 70% or more of South Carolina's gas comes from that area.

people you know? who are they? the gas station owner I spoke with is a friend of mine and has no reason to lie to me, especially because I don't purchase gas from him, and what isn't he knowledgeable about? the fact that he can't get the gas he orders when he wants? seems pretty straight forward to me.

What you are talking about is illegal, its called price gouging and gas stations can be shut down pretty quickly for that sort of thing.

"Refinery outages along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Gustav have created severe shortages" Knoxville news

"The reality is, we're facing a temporary shortage in wholesale gasoline," Geoff Sundstrom, AAA's fuel price analyst, Star News Houston

"South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has ordered some agencies to halt nonessential state travel this week due to the short-term shortage of gas caused by Hurricane Ike." Fox Carolina

"Cynthia Cooper, a clerk at the station, said the usual gas supplier was out of fuel, forcing the company to secure gas from suppliers in Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C." Augusta Chronicle

"Gas also rose by about 4 cents a gallon in Louisiana. Alabama saw a daily increase of about 3 cents. In Texas prices rose more than 2 cents, and in Florida prices rose by more than a penny, according to AAA. In New Orleans, gas prices rose by just over 4 cents a gallon. All of these areas are dependent upon oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico as a major part of their oil supply."Prices are more affected down South, while New York is supplied through [New York] Harbor," said Fred Rozell, oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service." CNN.com, August 30, 2008

"Gas prices jumped in Ike's aftermath. Fifteen Gulf Coast refineries were shut down Sunday, including ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas, facility, the nation's largest refinery." Usa Today

"Southern states such as Virginia are served by the Colonial Pipeline, which transports fuel from the Gulf Coast area. The pipeline was shut down Friday, but has since been restarted at a reduced rate. It is too early to know if the lack of supply will herald a return to widespread $4 per gallon gas, according to AAA." Daily Progress, Charlottesville VA

[The Drizzle]

Originally Posted by NoodlesKnowles

Why would gas stations order more supply? Oh yeah because they'd rather run out and not make any money at all right?

1/5 of THE US gas supply comes from the gulf, probably 70% or more of South Carolina's gas comes from that area.

people you know? who are they? the gas station owner I spoke with is a friend of mine and has no reason to lie to me, especially because I don't purchase gas from him, and what isn't he knowledgeable about? the fact that he can't get the gas he orders when he wants? seems pretty straight forward to me.

What you are talking about is illegal, its called price gouging and gas stations can be shut down pretty quickly for that sort of thing.

"Refinery outages along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Gustav have created severe shortages" Knoxville news

"The reality is, we're facing a temporary shortage in wholesale gasoline," Geoff Sundstrom, AAA's fuel price analyst, Star News Houston

"South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has ordered some agencies to halt nonessential state travel this week due to the short-term shortage of gas caused by Hurricane Ike." Fox Carolina

"Cynthia Cooper, a clerk at the station, said the usual gas supplier was out of fuel, forcing the company to secure gas from suppliers in Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C." Augusta Chronicle

"Gas also rose by about 4 cents a gallon in Louisiana. Alabama saw a daily increase of about 3 cents. In Texas prices rose more than 2 cents, and in Florida prices rose by more than a penny, according to AAA. In New Orleans, gas prices rose by just over 4 cents a gallon. All of these areas are dependent upon oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico as a major part of their oil supply."Prices are more affected down South, while New York is supplied through [New York] Harbor," said Fred Rozell, oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service." CNN.com, August 30, 2008

"Gas prices jumped in Ike's aftermath. Fifteen Gulf Coast refineries were shut down Sunday, including ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas, facility, the nation's largest refinery." Usa Today

"Southern states such as Virginia are served by the Colonial Pipeline, which transports fuel from the Gulf Coast area. The pipeline was shut down Friday, but has since been restarted at a reduced rate. It is too early to know if the lack of supply will herald a return to widespread $4 per gallon gas, according to AAA." Daily Progress, Charlottesville VA

I"ll let you use Google, and I"ll trust the people I know that work for the industry. Good luck feeding the panic.

[NoodlesKnowles]

Originally Posted by The Drizzle

I"ll let you use Google, and I"ll trust the people I know that work for the industry. Good luck feeding the panic.

I used Google, Usa today, CNN, and lots of other avenues to show some facts. I see no facts to back up your arguement, other than that you know "people" who remain nameless, interesting.

[thurx]

NoodlesKnowles, I'm with you. In fact you don't even need any source of news to figure out that no gas station is going to put up "out of gas" signs on purpose. They are out of gas. The high prices are a valiant effort to make a little money to cover their continuing costs after the gas runs out and all they can sell is soda and chips.

From what I read, there were refineries which never got back on line after the Gustov shutdown. Then Ike hit. A shortage of refined product is very believable, ESPECIALLY if politicians are saying THERE IS NO SHORTAGE.

For my personal comfort, I'm conserving my fuel until I see the stations have a supply back.

Do you know of any "fuel supply map" that shows, for different states, where their gasoline is trucked in from (and where the supplying pipelines terminate)?

[SCSKier]

Originally Posted by thurx

NoodlesKnowles, I'm with you. In fact you don't even need any source of news to figure out that no gas station is going to put up "out of gas" signs on purpose. They are out of gas. The high prices are a valiant effort to make a little money to cover their continuing costs after the gas runs out and all they can sell is soda and chips.

From what I read, there were refineries which never got back on line after the Gustov shutdown. Then Ike hit. A shortage of refined product is very believable, ESPECIALLY if politicians are saying THERE IS NO SHORTAGE.

For my personal comfort, I'm conserving my fuel until I see the stations have a supply back.

Do you know of any "fuel supply map" that shows, for different states, where their gasoline is trucked in from (and where the supplying pipelines terminate)?

All (Every single drop) of gas the upstate receives all comes through the Colonial Pipeline which originates in LA and TX at the oil Refineries. Their are two main terminals in the Upstate where the gas is taken out of the pipeline and stored in huge gas tanks. (Belton and Spartanburg tank farms). The colonial pipeline was shut down completely for three days but it has been restarted at reduced flow. Here is a map of the colonial pipeline.



Colonial Pipeline Reopens

Newspaper article: Colonial Pipeline reopens | CITIZEN-TIMES.com | Asheville Citizen-Times

"The Colonial Pipeline, the major gasoline artery for the East Coast, is back up and running, albeit at a reduced rate, according to AAA Carolinas Spokeswoman Carol Gifford."

"That doesn’t mean we will get back to the regular level, but it does mean it’s good news because we know once again there is gasoline in the pipeline,” Gifford said.The Colonial Pipeline provides fuel to terminals in Belton and Spartanburg, S.C., which in turn supply much of Western North Carolina’s gas stations."

The Hurricane Ike-induced gas shortage in the mountains has caused record high prices and numerous station closings. Although the pipeline has reopened, it is not running at full capacity, and a regular supply of gas depends on refineries in Texas getting back online.

Tom Crosby, another AAA Carolinas spokesman, said the shortages could last throughout the week because it could take several days for Gulf Coast refineries to gear back up after Hurricane Ike shut them down.
“The refineries have to initialize a series of processes to get back online and they need electricity to do that,” Crosby said. “It may take as much as five to seven days for them to get back in normal production

All of the Carolinas are enduring spotty outages, Crosby said. The mountain region receives most of its gas supply from terminals in Belton and Spartanburg, S.C., which have had trouble getting steady supplies.


From Colonial Pipeline website: About Us - FAQ

How fast do products move in the pipeline?
"At about three to five miles per hour in mainlines. The greater the volume being transported on a given day, the faster the product moves. It generally takes from 14 to 24 days for a batch to get from Houston, Texas to the New York harbor, with 18.5 days the average time"

[g-man430]

SCSkier has it right. The end.