Top Off Your Tanks Folks (how much, home, to buy)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Gustav is going to go right through the Gulf oil patch as a category 4. Then look at all the refineries in the path. It isn't a matter of price. It's a matter of availability for the whole country. With most New Orleans residents heading north and east local gas stations will run out all across Mississippi to start. Check the link.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/ofcl_5pm_30aug.jpg

And pray for the people from New Orleans. Gustav is supposed to come ashore as a category 4.

[flycessna]

Good advise!!....I am going to BJ's today to fill up

[genmomto5]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Good advise!!....I am going to BJ's today to fill up

Me too.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Fill up your 5 gallon cans and it's a good time to have your oil dealer top off your home heating oil tank.

[Elcarim]

Yep! We've seen 15 cents increase in 3 days and two stations in our small area are out of regular unleaded already. DH tells me we took another increase overnight last night, but I'm not sure how much. Our groceries and basic supplies are dwindling as well. We're already seeing miles of traffic coming through here as people to our east are evacuating. This scene is all too familiar after living through Katrina and Rita not so long ago!!

[jim65970]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Gustav is going to go right through the Gulf oil patch as a category 4. Then look at all the refineries in the path. It isn't a matter of price. It's a matter of availability for the whole country. With most New Orleans residents heading north and east local gas stations will run out all across Mississippi to start. Check the link.

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/ofcl_5pm_30aug.jpg

And pray for the people from New Orleans. Gustav is supposed to come ashore as a category 4.

good day.....yes gustav is a strong one...i live o nthe north end of fort lauderdale beach & today is very windy & cloudy. a direct result of gustavs winds which has to be at least 150 miles from here
thanks
jim

[maine4.us]

So far no price change for fuel on the east coast of Florida. We will have Hannah to deal with next weekend. I will probably go into the "mode" later this week, but the forecasts have been so crazy with Hannah, I am sort of still relaxed.

Mainers have winter, but in Florida we have August, September, and October. Three months of wondering if we are a target this year, or one of the lucky ones. It is a real time of uncertainty in this area. Mainers deal with the certainty of winter. We deal with the uncertainty of being blown away for three months.

My friend, an engineer, who works on oil platforms, tells me it is a lot of media hype, and price gouging. Since only 3% of our oil is domestic, how can that change actually affect the price of oil that much? Just another way for big oil to make a few more billions.

Yes, they do evacuate the platforms, but, they are built to withstand 150 mile an hour winds, and they are 85 feet above the ocean floor, so a wave has to be 100 feet tall to even hit the top of the deck. All the equipment is located above the deck. His idea of damage was some minor structural steel damage that could be repaired in a day, and be pumping oil the next day.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by maine4.us

My friend, an engineer, who works on oil platforms, tells me it is a lot of media hype, and price gouging. Since only 3% of our oil is domestic, how can that change actually affect the price of oil that much? Just another way for big oil to make a few more billions.

Yes, they do evacuate the platforms, but, they are built to withstand 150 mile an hour winds, and they are 85 feet above the ocean floor, so a wave has to be 100 feet tall to even hit the top of the deck. All the equipment is located above the deck. His idea of damage was some minor structural steel damage that could be repaired in a day, and be pumping oil the next day.

The stations in midcoast Maine have been packed since they opened this morning, and this afternoon I passed several that had already bagged one or more pumps. No major price increases yet. Post-Katrina prices here soared -- I think we saw our first $3 gasoline then, altho I could be wrong.

Maine4us, something like 40+ percent of our oil is domestically produced, and a fair amount comes from the GOM. In addition, the offshore LOOP terminal is the only one in the Gulf that can handle the superlarge oil tankers, and it's square in Gustav's sights right now. Plus there are the refineries all along that section of the coast which are just now recovering from the damage they suffered from Katrina. While the platforms themselves may survive with minor to major damage (recall that several vanished without a trace during Katrina), the pipelines between them and the shore were turned into spaghetti by Katrina's scouring action on the ocean floor.

Theoildrum.com has the best commentary and analysis of petroleum infrastructure impact from Gustav that I've been able to find. Highly recommended.

[BacktoNE]

For some reason that I can't imagine, the price of gas here in NE WI continues to drop. $3.59 gal as of 3 hours ago.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The industry wants everybody to have full tanks in their vehicles and every gas station to have full tanks when this hits. They are driving all they can into the supply system and want their refinery tanks at low levels when Gustav comes ashore so they won't lose product due to leaks and ruptures.

How do you get the uninformed to buy more gas? Cut the price.