Gasoline shortages have been affecting Atlanta for the last week or so and are reported to continue for the next week or more.I spent about an hour last night trying to find a gas station that still had any gasoline. I probably drove past about 20 or more that were dark or had the pumps bagged. Earlier this week we actually sat in line waiting for gasoline as our car sat on empty and I had images of pushing the car up a hill.
Hurricane Ike shut down Texas refineries that produce some 20 percent of the country's gasoline. The southern states depend more on Texas oil and gas than other parts of the country, and that's why the shortages are hitting the South particularly hard. [Times-Herald]And it gets worse. In the past, Gas prices in Georgia were some of the lowest in the nation and are now are currently some of the highest in the nation. Yesterday, the national average for regular was $3.718. The Georgia average was $3.976, and the Atlanta average $4.021. [EIA]
Additionally, Atlanta's air quality issues have placed strict gasoline blend requirements on the area, meaning that fuel can't necessarily be diverted from other nearby locations that have additional fuel.
As of 4 pm on Monday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the following report:
And the moral of the story is: "Fill up often and if possible do not wait till the needle gets near the empty. If you see a station with gasoline, top off your tank and then call me and tell me where it is."Petroleum
As of 12:30 pm EDT (11:30 am CDT), September 22, the Minerals Management Service was reporting that nearly 1 million barrels per day (or about 77 percent) of the federal portion of the Gulf of Mexico’s crude oil production was shut-in. As of 9:00 am EDT (8:00 am CDT), September 22, the Department of Energy reported that there are 9 refineries in Texas and Louisiana that are shut down due to Hurricane Ike. These 9 refineries have a total capacity of 2.3 million barrels per day (about 13 percent of U.S. operable capacity), and represent almost 800,000 barrels per day of gasoline output (nearly 9 percent of U.S. gasoline demand in September) and about 500,000 barrels per day of distillate fuel output (just over 12 percent of U.S. demand in September), based on recent historical data. So far, since refineries first shut down before Hurricane Gustav, over 41 million barrels of products have not been produced, including over 19 million barrels of gasoline and over 13 million barrels of distillate fuel. This does not include reduced production from refineries that have reduced runs at various times during Hurricanes Gustav or Ike. As of September 22, 6 refineries were running at a reduced rate. As of September 22, the Colonial and Plantation product pipelines continue to operate at reduced rates. Both of these are major product pipelines going from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast.It takes several days for a refinery to get back to normal operation after first getting power restored, even if there is no significant damage following a hurricane. Refined product supplies are still constrained in portions of the country because of refining capacity that is still significantly reduced from pre-hurricane levels, as noted above. As refineries return to full production, supplies will increase into pipelines, thus providing more supplies to those that have seen constraints in the supply system. But it could take several days or even a couple of weeks before the distribution system, from refineries to retail stations, is once again at pre-hurricane operation levels.
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