North American Fuel Shortage Reports

[lawnchair]

Just back from a week-long trip up the length of Interstate 29, from the Kansas City area to Winnipeg and back and through the heart of the recent supply issues. Observations:

Prices generally in the 3.25 range. However, in Council Bluffs this afternoon, there was one station with unleaded at 2.97 and one across the street at 3.19. 2 car deep lineups at the 2.97 station. Lineups are very rare in this part of the country, and I don't think I've seen a 22 cent difference in stations before.

Local gas consumers were only dimly aware of any regional supply disruptions. It hasn't been a big news story even regionally.

Lots of gasoline tankers on the road. Definitely more than usual. Carrying gas from Omaha up to the Dakotas. Several double-units (second gas tanker on a tow dolly). Not something I've seen much before. Damn scary in a 40 mph crosswind. Probably scarier in a blizzard. Also saw at least one gasoline tanker crossing the border from Manitoba (again, unusual).

And, lots and lots of wind turbine equipment. Probably saw enough blades and mast sections to build 6 large windmills on this trip alone. The amazing ramp-up of wind energy is probably the most hopeful thing I've seen in the energy field.

[DantesPeak]

Nebraska Gas Pumps Run Dry

Governor Declares State Of Emergency Related To Fuel

OMAHA, Neb. -- Truckers spent more than an hour waiting to fill up with fuel for delivery as some gas pumps ran dry across the state on Wednesday.

Nebraska's governor has issued an executive order that will allow gasoline truck drivers to alter their hours of service.

Gov. Dave Heineman's executive order said that supplies are unusually tight, so he is waiving Nebraska Revised Statute 75-363, which deals with the hours truck drivers can stay on the state's road before they are required to take a break.

Heineman's order said fuel haulers are "experiencing much longer time waiting in supply lines at all available terminals, and the extra time is creating hardship for gasoline and diesel fuel supply."

KETV

link includes interesting video

[shortonoil]

DantesPeak said:

Nebraska Gas Pumps Run Dry

I bet, if we had taken a poll last year, on where the first shortages would appear, no one would have guessed Omaha, Nebraska. Peak Oil is going to have some strange and unpredictable consequences.

[Cobra_Strike]

Odd though, if it were not for this site...I would not know about shortages in Nebraska at all.

[AirlinePilot]

Odd though, if it were not for this site...I would not know about shortages in Nebraska at all.

Your not the only one Cobra. I'm guessing most of the rest of this country and the world doesnt know either. Interesting.

[DantesPeak]

Odd though, if it were not for this site...I would not know about shortages in Nebraska at all.

These stories are not being picked up by major media, although I don't see a conspiracy to hide the truth. It's unclear if they just don't understand the problem or if they just thought what happens in North Dakota is not really important.

Now that shortages are developing near the heart land of the US, Nebraska, it will be interesting to see if gasoline shortages become more widely discussed in the media.

OPEC seems to 'get it', really get it that is - Qatar had gasoline and diesel shortages in May:

Crude supply not to blame for oil price, says Opec
Web posted at: 7/12/2007 2:9:4
Source ::: Reuters

WARSAW/DOHA • Saudi Arabia and other Opec members said yesterday they are not to blame for near-record oil prices, pointing the finger at a global shortage of refinery capacity and international political tension.

In Doha, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and Industry H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah earlier sounded the same message as his Saudi counterpart.

"Opec cannot do anything about it," Attiyah said. "The world is facing a shortage of gasoline and diesel, but not crude oil."

Peninsula Online

[shortonoil]

"Opec cannot do anything about it," Attiyah said. "The world is facing a shortage of gasoline and diesel, but not crude oil."

NEXT YEAR - THE RECESSION HAS SET IN.

"Opec cannot do anything about it," Attiyah said. "The world is facing a shortage of crude oil, but not gasoline and diesel".

[cynthia]

Since Nebraska is practically mono-cropped in corn (okay, soy and milo too) how will they farm their fields without gasoline?
I suppose that is when the gasoline shortage news will hit the mainstream media. "Oh no! We can't produce ethanol without the abundant flow of gasoline."
Meanwhile, PO members/visitors will be reading the next breaking news while the sheeple digest their costly popcorn wondering whom to blame.
cynthia

[ExtractionEngineer]

Major price differetials here in SE Oklahoma. Regular unleaded prices have gone up SIGNIFICANTLY this week. Every station in town was selling regular unleaded for $2.95 per gallon on Sunday. Now we have everything from $3.15-$3.35 per gallon. All of it migrating upward in price. The price differential has to be killing the local service stations. I live in a small town (about 25k people) so that is a huge price differential. Have not heard any news about shortages yet.....but I'm not sure what else could be causing this.

[Ferretlover]

Just south of the Twin Cities:
Local BP station: Last Thursday regular unleaded was $2.85.
Sunday it had gone to $3.05.
Yesterday, when I went to fill up, it was $3.37.
52 cents in one week.

[stu]

So it now looks like we have 5 states where governors have waived the restrictions on fuel truck drivers taking breaks: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska.

One state where Drivers are authorised to cross state borders in the search for fuel: North Dakota.

With Coffeyville out of comission then obviously the nearest refineries within a few hundred miles radius will be stretched. This will impact on the stations that get their gas from these refineries. I'm wondering which way this will go. Will it impact more towards the Rocky Mountain States or can we expect to see supplies being stretched in the Michigan and Illinois areas?

[stu]

Just found this list on wikipedia which lists all the oil refineries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oi ... ies#Kansas

Should be helpful in seeing which refineries will be stretched.

[Eli]

I don't think the Rockies will suffer that much. It will be States that run along I-35. first Oklahoma to Minnesota. The truckers are going to head to the places with the most refining. Chicago will be likely hit really good.

[shortonoil]

The inventory situation in the Mid West has been bad all year. Like I stated in a previous post, as truckers move further into other areas to find gasoline, they will deplete already stressed supplies in those areas. At some point, supplies will become too far away from the original areas to be maintained. Since most of the Mid West has little water or pipe supply, whole states could, just, run out of gas.

[FoxV]

So it now looks like we have 5 states where governors have waived the restrictions on fuel truck drivers taking breaks: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska.

One state where Drivers are authorised to cross state borders in the search for fuel: North Dakota.

for these report type topics (such as this as well as the Refinery Outages, Another Record and the others) is it possible to edit the first post with a quick "Current status" update (and recent news links would also be nice ) for those of us that want to keep up to date but don't have time to read all the posts.

Events seem to be accelerating these days, and its getting harder to keep on top of things (and just think, not a single GOM hurricane yet)

[pup55]

The governor lifted the limits on the hours that gasoline tanker truck drivers can work, a move designed to assure that adequate supplies reach retailers across the state, said Brian Crowe, an energy analyst for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Tight Midwestern supplies and outages at some smaller Iowa terminals have forced drivers to travel extra miles to places such as Des Moines to fill their tanker trailers, often having to wait in long lines for hours.

Des Moines Register

[DantesPeak]

July 10, 2007
Product Outages Plague Midwest Markets

Oil supply through the Midwest has been pinched by ongoing refinery production problems. As a result, a number of terminals are running out of fuel and the high prices indicative of the Midwest are now spreading to outlying markets.

Gasoline supply appears to be the hardest hit. Marketers from Oklahoma to Wisconsin report outages of unleaded gasoline. The farther you get from the refining and distribution centers the harder it becomes to find barrels.

"There is no fuel up here," one Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin -based marketer told his supplier at the end of last week. "It doesn't matter what the price is."

A check of key supply points along the Magellan Pipeline reveals an interesting dynamic. Magellan seems to be maintaining adequate stocks at its hub terminals - Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines - but outlying terminals see supplies eroding. Doniphan, Nebraska, for example, is currently out of four different grades of fuel.

Sources who monitor supply/demand statistics along the Magellan say that the number of days of supply for unleaded has been "below normal" since June 6th, more than a month ago.

OPIS Net

[stu]

Add in Iowa. I make that 6 states now. (post edited)


http://www.kcci.com/news/13672248/detail.html

Gov. Chet Culver suspended the limit on the number of hours that fuel truck drivers may drive on the road amid the fuel price hike and shortages in the Midwest.

Drivers are typically limited to 12-hour days and at least 10 hours off after each shift, according a news release from the governor's office.

[shortonoil]

For those who don’t know who Chet Culver is, which is just about everyone, and who don’t want to read the entire link to find out, the state is Iowa.

[vision-master]

Gas shortages hit storage facilities


Quote:
Shortages of gasoline at regional bulk storage facilities, including Williams Pipeline in Mankato, are causing headaches and long hours for tanker truck drivers who have to chase to nearby states to supply local gas stations.

“We’re just one hurricane away from the five state area having no gas supply. The last time the hurricanes hit the Gulf, we had a lot of supply up here and we still had a bad time. Now, we don’t have any supply so we’d really have a problem.”


http://www.mankatofreepress.com/loca...185005557.html