Gas Shortages Plague the Southeast

Hurricane-related disruptions in the supply of fuel from Gulf Coast refineries have led stations in Atlanta and elsewhere to run out of gas

by Brian Burnsed

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Barry Tipping spent three days searching for gas in Atlanta. The quest seemed to be in vain, as the 44-year-old tried nearly 20 gas stations, many with their pumps draped in bags, or waits that stretched to more than an hour. Twice when Tipping did find stations with gas, he sat in a long line only to see the station run out of premium unleaded before he reached the pump. So here was Tipping on Sept. 30 happily paying $4.33 a gallon to fill his silver Mercedes at an Exxon (XOM) station in the northern part of the city, a sense of relief on his face. "I'd pay $5 a gallon if I had to," he said.

Tipping's not alone. The Southeast is experiencing a hurricane-triggered gas shortage that has thrown the region's gas stations into chaos. All but two of the Gulf Coast refineries that were shut down by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav for 10 days are now back up, but the delay in fully refilling the pipelines to the region is forcing many to spend time circling the city in search of stations that have received a fresh shipment of gasoline. And in some instances, tempers have flared: Motorists tell their stories over Atlanta's airwaves, claiming they've seen fistfights and fender benders among drivers jockeying for position before the gas runs out.

In many instances, a new shipment lasts mere hours as motorists converge for the stuff. "Motorists reacted by engaging in some panic buying," says Geoff Sundstrom, a fuel price analyst for the auto club AAA. "They start topping off their gas tank, they come in with a boat or an RV that they don't intend to use, or they're driving up with six fuel cans and trying to fill those."

Power Is the Problem

Refineries along the Gulf of Mexico supply the overwhelming majority of the Southeast's gas, reaching Virginia in the East and as far north as Chicago. A bulk of the Northeast receives oil through barge shipments and the West Coast is supplied mainly from refineries and pipelines in California, so hurricanes tend to spur gasoline shortages in the Southeast, although AAA notes that metro Chicago also saw a bump in gas prices. The dual hurricanes caused widespread power outages on the Gulf Coast, which forced refineries to shut down as the pipelines opened, waiting to transport reserve fuel to the Southeast. "The pipelines were ready to receive product quickly after the hurricanes," says Shirley Neff, president and CEO of the Association of Oil Pipelines, a Washington (D.C.) trade group and lobbyist. "It was a question of having power to deliver product from existing storage either at terminals or refineries."