Posted on 09/05/2005 10:39:50 AM PDT by neverdem
As Americans began heading home from the Labor Day weekend, gasoline stations today continued to report spot shortages, but the country appeared, at least as of this morning, to have avoided the massive supply problems that some had feared.
Throughout the weekend, station attendants and analysts said they saw unrelenting demand from drivers who were worried they would find themselves stranded, were panicked by rumors about service stations closing early, or both.
Officials said they continued to make progress in resuming the production and distribution of gasoline and other fuels, which was severely disrupted by Hurricane Katrina last week. But they noted that most refineries and oil production in and along the Gulf of Mexico remained shut down for the seventh day in a row.
Gasoline demand was heaviest along busy thoroughfares between big population centers and vacation destinations, often knocking out several gasoline stations along a route for hours to days at a time.
"It could three or five stations on one stretch running out," said Justin McNaull, a spokesman for AAA, formerly known as the American Automobile Association. "That's a fairly real situation that is happening."
Mr. McNaull added that his group had not received any reports of motorists stranded in tourist destinations unable to return home because they could not refuel.
"The challenge that gas station operators are having now is not knowing when the next shipment is coming and how much they will be getting," he said.
Rauf Baber, manager of a BP Amoco station in Coney Island, Brooklyn, said he was able to get a special delivery of gasoline late Sunday night after running out earlier in the day. Though he had 6,000 gallons of gasoline this morning, he was still expecting another load this evening.
"People went crazy to fill up, that's why..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
When something goes wrong: it's always his fault.
If something goes right: crickets.
Im doing my part this weekend by leaving the car in the driveway.
Translation: The price mechanism of the free market works. Consumers seeing high prices changed their behavior.
Don't be to sure about this one NYT's. I just went to 18 different gas stations and not 1 of them had any Massive Oil.
THey must've been crazy to fill up. THe Hess station across the street is almost always 5 cents cheaper per gallon.
Bush's fault.
Howard Dean is deeply saddened.
U.S. Appears to Have Avoided Massive Oil Supply Problems, partly because thousands of people are unable to use fuel or power in the Southeast.
NYT Headline:
The Press Fails To Instigate Mass Panick At The Pumps.
Subtitle: And we'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!
LOL!
Wow, the Bush administration must have stolen too much Iraqi oil. Bush's oil buddies won't be able to raise prices as high as they were hoping after all. A rare slipup for the evil genius Karl Rove.
/channeling Sidney Blumenthal
Well done.
I am positive this bit of good news is a great disappointment to the NY Slimes.
Well said...
I'm just glad they filled up my Oil tank ($500 worth) 2 weeks ago and not this week. Hopefully the hysteria will fade and it'll come back down by the time it actually gets cold enough to need it.
$3 seems to be about the going rate around here but there have been no shortage. Also it's 40 cents cheaper than a few days ago.
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