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WEB SITES  Journal photographer Josh Stephenson photo slide show from Hurricane Katrina.
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Friday, September 2, 2005
Gas Prices Up, Supplies Falling
Journal Staff and Wire Reports
Supplies ran out at a small but growing number of gas stations in the United States on Thursday as Gulf Coast refiners and pipelines remained hobbled by Hurricane Katrina and nervous motorists lined up to top off their tanks.
Most stations with "Out of Gas" signs and yellow caution tape draped across their pumps were along the East Coast and in Midwest states. Station owners said many of the shortages were temporary, exacerbated by panic buying and delayed deliveries.
A few stations turned off their pumps because wholesale prices were rising so fast that they were selling fuel at a loss— even as prices spiked overnight to above $3 a gallon.
Governors in New Mexico, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania urged motorists to conserve fuel; and they warned retailers about alleged price gouging.
Gas stations ran dry in many states, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
"I've never seen anything like this," said 47-year-old Robert Weems, who waited in line for three hours Thursday morning at a gas station 25 miles north of Jackson, Miss., before the pumps ran dry.
In New Mexico, there were reports that some gas marketers were having trouble securing supplies, said Ruben Baca, president of the New Mexico Petroleum Marketers Association.
New Mexico gas prices also broke through $3 a gallon around the state, although the statewide average remained at $2.76 on Thursday, up 7 cents from the day before, AAA New Mexico said. Overnight, average prices jumped 7 cents in Albuquerque, to $2.77, 8 cents in Santa Fe to $2.87, and 12 cents in Las Cruces to $2.70.
Skyrocketing prices have forced some drivers to change their plans.
Retired school teacher Modesto Vigil said he had canceled plans to visit a home he owns in Roswell this weekend.
Vigil spent $38.54 to half-fill his 1993 Jeep Cherokee at the Conoco station at San Mateo and I-25, where regular unleaded cost $3.09 Thursday afternoon.
"It's kind of scary," said Rick Livesay as he coughed up $3.19 a gallon to put premium gas in his 1994 Chevy van at a Conoco station on Osuna and Jefferson. Livesay, who has a construction company, said he will pass the higher gas costs on to customers when he bids for jobs.
The steeply rising prices prompted New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Attorney General Patricia Madrid to issue a joint statement saying they would pursue a specific new law targeting price gouging at the gas pump following natural disasters.
The country's energy supply chain is designed in a way that puts enormous pressure on Gulf Coast oil producers, refiners and pipeline companies that have been severely limited in the amount of fuel they can deliver to consumers up and down the East Coast.
While it could be weeks before all eight of the Gulf refineries that shut down are back in action, some key pipelines— owned by Colonial Pipeline Co. and the Plantation Pipe Line Co.— had resumed partial service Thursday.
Gasoline futures surged for the fourth day in a row on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Unleaded gasoline for October delivery settled at $2.409 per gallon, an increase of more than 15 cents.
Oil prices climbed, too. Nymex crude futures rose 53 cents to settle at $69.47 a barrel.
Journal staff writer Rosalie Rayburn contributed to this report.