Stations running short as refinery closures spook consumers
Gasoline pumps are running dry from Houston to San Antonio and Dallas, and nationwide fuel shortages may be looming.
Demand is rising for the Labor Day holiday while more than 20 percent of the nation’s refining capacity remains shuttered from Hurricane Harvey.
Houston-area gasoline prices could spike by up to 50 cents a gallon and more than 30 cents nationally, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.
“It’s the worst possible scenario,” DeHaan said. “It’s beyond even my worst-case concerns.”
There would be enough fuel to go around if people would avoid panic at the pump, according to Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton.
“It’s just like a run on a bank,” he said. “It’s a run on gas stations.”
Texas has 230 million barrels of gasoline at hand, Sitton said.
The problem is, it’s not all in the tanks beneath the gas stations.
Many storm-struck Gulf region stations are out. More surprisingly, consumers in San Antonio and Dallas are scrounging for gas.
Frank Barrera said he went to eight
gas stations on San Antonio’s south side before making the trip up north and enduring the huge lines and an occasional shouting match.
“You think this is bad? Go to the South Side. Everyone is fighting,” he said.
Even the massive Buc-ee’s in New Braunfels was running short on fuel.
At a Shell station at Interstate 635 in Dallas, manager Tim Flatt had an employee wave away motorists with a paper “Out of Gas” sign after they twice went dry on Thursday. They got a refill at about 10 a.m. and were drained again by 2 p.m.
“People are insane right now,” Flatt said. “A lot of people don’t need gas, but they’re coming to get gas. It’s just been crazy.”
On Thursday, the massive Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel from Houston to much of the Southeast and East Coast, shut down, ensuring some supply issues for much of the country.
Refining capacity offline along the Texas Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur may remain shuttered from a week to more than a month.
The nation’s largest refinery in Port Arthur — owned by Saudi Arabia’s Motiva Enterprises — said it will take time to assess the damages and prepare the complex to start back up. Even the restart process typically takes at least a week or so.
“Given the unprecedented flooding in the city of Port Arthur, it remains uncertain how quickly the floodwaters will recede, so we cannot provide a timeline for restart at this time,” Motiva said.
Some Louisiana refineries that are still operating began tapping into the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve for oil supplies on Thursday.
The result of all this could be fuel shortages and price spikes that go on for a month, and possibly longer.
“Motorists are going to have to wait for supplies and prices to return to normal,” DeHaan said. “Try to buy only what you need.”
On Thursday, the League City Police Department put out a statement warning that citizens in the heavily flooded city should stay home.
“Officers are advising there is no gas available and recommending that citizens stay home and do not waste gas. Stations are unsure when supplies will be available,” the department said.
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is rapidly rising and already hit a 2017 high of $2.45, up 12 cents in a week, according to AAA. The Dallas average is up almost 30 cents in a week, GasBuddy data showed.
Houston prices are harder to calculate for now because the flooding and closures remain problematic.
GasBuddy’s activity tracker map for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area says the amount of gas stations that ran out of fuel now exceeds the number of stations still pumping.
The crunch prompted QuikTrip, one of the nation’s largest convenience store chains, to temporarily halt gasoline sales at about half its 135 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “Hurricane Harvey has impacted many gas refineries, and Texas is experiencing a gas supply shortage as a result,” 7-Eleven wrote in a statement. “We are doing everything we can to provide gas to our customers as it becomes available.”
There’s potentially less urgency in the Houston area about gasoline because, quite frankly, there are more important things for residents to worry about. Many Houstonians filled up before Harvey made landfall, and many vehicles are no longer drivable.
In Dallas, though, life was going on as usual until motorists began to scramble to fill their tanks ahead of the extended Labor Day weekend.
Haley Gonzalez, who lives north of Dallas in The Colony, said she visited several stations in search of fuel before finding it in Plano, a northern suburb. Even then, she could only fill about half of her tank before the pump went dry.
“It’s wild that we’re directly affected by something like this so soon,” said Gonzalez, 23.
People were waiting at least 30 minutes to pump, only to end up buying premium fuel after regular ran out.
Gonzalez and her friends were planning a short Labor Day weekend vacation to Lake Texoma, about 75 miles away. That’s now changed.
“We’re having to think way more local,” she said.