Major Gas Shortage In Western North Carolina Sends Drivers Scrambling
September 26th, 2008Update: Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines
The Energy Department said that as of Wednesday 63 percent, or 800,000 barrels a day, of production in the Gulf of Mexico was still shut down as were five refineries with a combined capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day. The refineries produce a half-million barrels of gasoline a day, or about 5 percent of the nation’s total supplies. Other refineries are still working at less than full capacity. Hurricane Gustav landed Sept. 1, and Ike hit Sept. 13.
“The production loss is similar to what was lost after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina,” said Anne Peebles, a Shell Oil spokeswoman. “This time the physical damage [to oil facilities] was not as great, but the down time with the storms hitting back to back is similar.” She said that “more fuel is coming” as facilities gradually ramp up again, but “we do think that production availability will normalize in the next several weeks.“
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Via: WSPA:
They lined up for hours, crowding busy roads, trying desperately to get gas.
A major fuel shortage in western north carolina has many stations there out of gas, and in some cities, only one or two stations at a time have supply.
In hard hit Hendersonville, there were lines Tuesday as far as the eye could see at some stations.
One driver, who drove by 8 empty stations told us, “It’s terrible, trying to make sure you have enough gas to make it work.”
At an Enmark on 176 in Hendersonville, one of the only local stations to get a Tuesday delivery of gas, drivers waited for two hours to pump; only to find the pump motor broke. Hundreds were turned away, not knowing where else to go.
Governor Easley’s office says they have been in contact with major oil suppliers, asking for immediate deliveries to western north carolina.
Officials say it could be weeks before the supply is back to normal. That’s because some refineries are still not working and it takes days just to start them up again.
Hendersonville Police, Henderson County Sheriffs deputies and the Highway Patrol had to send units to multiple gas stations for crowd control.
Getting the supply isn’t easy for the suppliers too. We spoke to a gas station owner in Tryon who says they have no idea when they’ll get gas and he says the supply is so low, the fuel trucks sometimes have to wait in line up to 6 hours to fill their tanker trucks.
Its not just Hendersonville having a shortage, other places in the region, like Asheville are having long lines too.
Greetings from Asheville, NC .. america’s no-go headquarters.
Although authority is trying to downplay this as much as it possibly can … no joke here, I have personally seen fistfights, and one guy get knifed. I have heard reports about cops with heavy ordinance “guarding” those few stations with gas.
The veneer of civilization is indeed quite thin.
As for me, well, I have ~ 150 gallons stored here, and I have a biodiesel vehicle, just for this exact purpose.
an ounce of preparation …
Studying the problem from a sociological perspective, it is interesting to watch how people react when they are forced to finally admit to the idea that one day, the gas might be gone, for good. The truly scary thing is: even amongst the bright, prepared folks, the most common refrains are: “Why isn’t the government doing more about this ? ” “When will they ?”
sigh.
I do hope the fuel situation doesn’t get worse … I have no desire to be a fat person in Masada.
keep to the light,
(and off the road)
cybele
Thanks for the report, Cybele.
Might’ve mentioned this once before, but back about 35 years ago during the gas “shortage” in America a couple of guys got into an argument about who was next in line at a gas station. One pulled out a .45 semiautomatic, the other a .357 Magnum, and they started blazing away at each other. It’s been so long I can’t remember any more details.
Now you can just log onto the Russian On Line fuel exchange and buy it for yourself! HA!
http://www.russiatoday.com/business/news/30939
Russia opens online fuel bourse
Rosneft wants to sell half its oil through Russia’s online fuel exchange which opened on Tuesday. It’s hoped the bourse will drive down energy prices as buyers compare offers in real time. The latest rates on diesel and jet fuel are now available to anyone with internet.
Russia’s energy supreme, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, has been shown around the country’s first online oil exchange.
“This is a key way to make oil price formation transparent,” Sechin told RT.
Rosneft says trading on the bourse will mean savings for consumers at the petrol station.
“This removes intermediaries and will bring down the price of oil. We hope 50% of our trade will eventually go through these exchanges,” Rosneft’s President Sergey Bogdanchikov said.
It’s the world’s first oil exchange not dollar-denominated.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin calls this the starting step to make the ruble an international reserve currency.