North American Fuel Shortage Reports

[Byron100]

Report from the field:

The gas shortage here in Atlanta is just as severe as ever. Most gas stations look like this today:



A few, like this "super market" / truck stop look like this:





Today is an excellent day to be in possession of two wheels instead of four.

2 wheels, good.

4 wheels, bad. Got that?

[Ferretlover]

Good reporting, Byron. Thank you.

[bl00k]

That looks pretty serious. Nice photo's!

[frankthetank]

If it came to that around here i'd get on my bicycle and save what gas i have. No reason to go wait in those lines and waste hours just getting all stressed out. Just shows how addicted people are... For the amount of time they'll spend in that line, they could have walked everywhere they needed to go and gotten exercise and fresh air...

Keep the pictures going...i like!

[nobodypanic]

i am on the VA-NC border, on the coast, and i don't see any shortages or problems at all. nothing. zip. zilch. nada. in fact prices dropped some at the end of the week.

any idea why i am not seeing anything and yet a few hours away there are problems?

[the48thronin]

i am on the VA-NC border, on the coast, and i don't see any shortages or problems at all. nothing. zip. zilch. nada. in fact prices dropped some at the end of the week.

any idea why i am not seeing anything and yet a few hours away there are problems?

two possibilities come to mind. One was a report in another thread of 32 tankers coming from Europe with 1/2 of them UNSOLD and NY unloading facilities booked up, Maybe there is a rack in Norfolk or Charleston ans some ability to unload finished product from tankers?

The other possibility is that your area is serviced out of Richmond rack which also services Washington DC. Ruther Glen truck stops are showing critically low on Diesel even so... They are just below Washington...

[ReverseEngineer]

iany idea why i am not seeing anything and yet a few hours away there are problems?

Do you understand the nature of Cancer? Starts as one cell gone awry. Then it builds in size to a Tumor. Then the Tumor Metasticizes. Causing many tumors all over the body. Then the body dies.

The cell gone awry went bad long ago, just it never got Diagnosed. The cell was Greed, the Tumor was Banking. Just it took until the entire surface of the Planet Earth was being consumed and devoured by greedy cancer cells called humans.

We won't die off instantly here. It will be a slow painful death as most cancers are that takes anywhere from 6 months to a few years.

Call it the "Night of the Living Dead". You know, there is a REASON those stories exist in the collective consciousness of humanity, of Vampires and Werewolves. The Vampires come out at night and eat Human Flesh. The dogs that were once your pets become ravenous packs. They really DID exist in the Dark Ages. Count Dracula really WAS Vlad the Impaler. They come back to haunt us now once again in reality.

Methinks we REALLY need Buffy the Vampire Slayer now. Obama or McCain won't do the trick here.

Reverse Engineer

[godq3]

All those wires. Now I understand why fourth largest city in the US can have 2 weeks without power after some wind. Geez, put those wires underground!

[vision-master]

iany idea why i am not seeing anything and yet a few hours away there are problems?

Do you understand the nature of Cancer? Starts as one cell gone awry. Then it builds in size to a Tumor. Then the Tumor Metasticizes. Causing many tumors all over the body. Then the body dies.
The cell gone awry went bad long ago, just it never got Diagnosed. The cell was Greed, the Tumor was Banking. Just it took until the entire surface of the Planet Earth was being consumed and devoured by greedy cancer cells called humans. We won't die off instantly here. It will be a slow painful death as most cancers are that takes anywhere from 6 months to a few years.
Call it the "Night of the Living Dead". You know, there is a REASON those stories exist in the collective consciousness of humanity, of Vampires and Werewolves. The Vampires come out at night and eat Human Flesh. The dogs that were once your pets become ravenous packs. They really DID exist in the Dark Ages. Count Dracula really WAS Vlad the Impaler. They come back to haunt us now once again in reality. Methinks we REALLY need Buffy the Vampire Slayer now. Obama or McCain won't do the trick here.

Red Elk say's Mother Earth is like the back of a dog that is infested with fleas (ppl).

[vision-master]

it's horrible. I know peeps who tried up to 15 gas stations before giving up and going home. Saw a line nearly as long as the one above last night. At least traffic is lighter and people drive slower for the most part. Today was the first day i drove my car in almost two weeks.

There's a couple reasons for this mess:
1) when you have everyone in atlanta and the surrounding cities filling up every time they use 4 gallons then yeah, there's going to be a shortage

2) the hurricanes wiped out a couple refineries which account for 20% of the production and they aren't back up to speed yet.

3) due to pollution being so bad as a result of the high traffic volumes here the EPA passed a regulation about the type of gas we can use. They just lifted that restriction on friday i think. The restriction severly limited where we could get our gas from because it's a different mix.

Just a guess here but I would not doubt if the National Guard is called out tomrrow. They expect the population to double in Athens tonight due to the GA vs AL game and an oil exec already asked the governor to cancel the game BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ANY GAS!!! The governor said that's ridiculous and is off to europe

There are so many peeps in athens right now and I expect there's alot of people going to be stranded after the game in the surrounding areas. Drunk pissed off Alabama rednecks let loose in the big city they'll be spotlighting deer downtown, and shooting at all the street signs all fucking night

[Alnitaka]

Vision-Master, did those things you described in the quote in your post happen? The Crimson Tide won, but was it the Night that the Gas Ran Out in Georgia?

[vision-master]

Vision-Master, did those things you described in the quote in your post happen? The Crimson Tide won, but was it the Night that the Gas Ran Out in Georgia?

from another forum - just second hand info.

[DantesPeak]

As I said a few days ago or so, I don't think shortages will disappear in one week, although they may improve from severe shortages to just shortages ina about a week.

However the story line I see over and over is that relief is always just a week away.

Chambliss predicts gas to be scarce for a week
Perdue urges Georgians to conserve

By BLAKE AUED | blake.aued@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 11:26 pm on 9/26/2008

Georgia's gasoline shortage will last another five to seven days, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss predicted Friday.

Gas still is in short supply four days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began allowing all types of fuel, not just a low-sulfur variety, in metro Atlanta and Athens, Chambliss said. The EPA decision was intended to give distributors flexibility to pipe more fuel to North Georgia.

"That did not immediately solve the problem," he said during a conference call with reporters. "We're still seeing a shortage in gas."

A fire Tuesday at a British Petroleum refinery in Pensacola, Texas, further lowered production capacity already hurt by recent hurricane damage to Gulf Coast refineries, Chambliss said. The refinery came back on line Thursday, and more gas now is being diverted from other areas to Atlanta, he said.

"My guess is it'll be five to seven days before we're back anywhere close to normal," he said.

Athens Banner-Herald

[nobodypanic]

iany idea why i am not seeing anything and yet a few hours away there are problems?

Do you understand the nature of Cancer? Starts as one cell gone awry. Then it builds in size to a Tumor. Then the Tumor Metasticizes. Causing many tumors all over the body. Then the body dies.

The cell gone awry went bad long ago, just it never got Diagnosed. The cell was Greed, the Tumor was Banking. Just it took until the entire surface of the Planet Earth was being consumed and devoured by greedy cancer cells called humans.

We won't die off instantly here. It will be a slow painful death as most cancers are that takes anywhere from 6 months to a few years.

Call it the "Night of the Living Dead". You know, there is a REASON those stories exist in the collective consciousness of humanity, of Vampires and Werewolves. The Vampires come out at night and eat Human Flesh. The dogs that were once your pets become ravenous packs. They really DID exist in the Dark Ages. Count Dracula really WAS Vlad the Impaler. They come back to haunt us now once again in reality.

Methinks we REALLY need Buffy the Vampire Slayer now. Obama or McCain won't do the trick here.

Reverse Engineer

do you understand the nature of the military industrial complex? i am sitting smack-dab in the middle of the largest concentration of military installations and assets on the east coast. perhaps uncle sam decided that there's no way his sailors, etc. won't have enough gas to drive into work? ok, tin-foil hat off now.

seriously RE, it doesn't look like there are going to be any problems here, wish i understood exactly why, since it seems to me like there should be at least some shortages here.

[GoghGoner]

I posted the whole article. It very short but worth the read. I cannot believe the city of Atlanta doesn't have a protocol to follow to alert the citizens on where to purchase gasoline (sarconal).


911 Callers Looking For Gas In Metro Atlanta Jam Emergency Phone LinesLINK

Douglas County dispatchers are seeing a surge in 911 calls, but they said the calls aren’t emergency related.

Officials said some metro Atlanta drivers are calling 911 to find out which gasoline stations have fuel.

“911 is for emergencies, and gasoline shortages -- as important as they may be to some people -- are not emergencies,” said Well Tallon, Douglas County director of communications and Community Relations.

Tallon said 911 operators have no way of knowing which stations are open and which stations are not, and do not know when deliveries are scheduled.

“Most of the gasoline stations themselves do not know when their next gasoline delivery will arrive,” said Tallon.

Officials said the gasoline calls could interfere with life-and-death emergency calls that need the immediate attention of 911 operators.

Authorities said it is also not possible for officers and deputies to drive throughout the county to note where gasoline is available, and provide that information to the public.

[ushoys]

"All those wires. Now I understand why fourth largest city in the US can have 2 weeks without power after some wind. Geez, put those wires underground!"

Not just after some wind, but also after bit of rain that loosens tree roots so they just fall over on the wires and their transformers that are mounted on poles and strung through vegetation. Medium voltage power distribution in the US (not just the South) is generally 3rd World cheap, ugly, high maintenance and unreliable, but it's all we know so few complain. Fat chance now of anyone paying for it to go underground.

Here in Charlotte, NC we had an unspecified but much-touted "major shipment" of gasoline on Friday and Saturday - but it all appears to have gone now (Sunday) without satisfying much demand. I took a short drive around to try and find some for myself this afternoon but all I saw were bagged and yellow-taped gas pumps. Some diesel pumps were not bagged though.

My wife is in Chattanooga, TN. They'd had a reasonable supply of regular grade gas for the past couple of weeks, but she told me gas lines were very heavy yesterday and today all the stations in her area are dry.

At least our supermarkets still seem to be well-stocked with fresh produce and there is no sign yet of shortages or panic buying of food. According to local blogs alot of people seem to be essentially stranded in their homes with nearly-empty cars parked outside and they do not intend to even try to go to work or look further for gas until "normal" supply is resumed. I wonder how many are within walking distance of a grocery store.

[shortonoil]

As all eyes stay glued to the banking crisis, the beast is creeping up silently behind us. Friday afternoon Bloomberg TV had a segment on oil. Matt Simmons was addressed in part of that segment. Bloomberg runs the same segment time and time again. In the afternoon, a couple of times in the early evening and then late evening and often the following morning.

What Simmons said was that the eastern part of the US would be running out of gas in five to seven days. My calculations lead me to believe that distributors will begin experiencing shortages in about seven. Two to three days after that retailers should start running short. It looks like Oct. 7 should be about the cut off date.

Simmons also said that there are no pre-formulated plans to establish rationing. Once it hits the government has no way of dealing with it. He should know he was the Presidential Energy advisor for four years.

The interesting thing is that after that one presentation by Matt, the rest of the series had his presentation cut out. Not one word of his after that first showing. I watched all of them for the next 24 hours.

He also said what I have been saying, it will take many months to re-establish the inventory. My best calculation (which has lot of iffy data in it) gives about four months, and it could be longer.

To keep things going while Congress debates how much welfare to hand out to the banks, the oil industry has been moving gasoline inventory from the back to the front of the line. Refinery stocks are way down and the pipelines have been drained at every possible point. When this hits, it will hit hard!

[Byron100]

And the shortage continues.

I rode my bike up to the same QT I where I shot those photos yesterday, and it's just as bad as ever. I must say kudos to QT for being on the ball and adapting to the crushing volume of gas-hungry cars, making sure that people don't cut in line, etc. The truck stop portion, which has its forecourt on the opposite side was still pumping diesel with no restriction, at $3.89 a gallon.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, how much is a video worth?

I'll let you folks decide:

[video width=400 height=350]http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=5664269243699308956&hl=en&fs=true[/video]

So, there you have it. Peak Oil in action.

Watch, and learn.



<edited to fix video embed>

[the48thronin]

do you understand the nature of the military industrial complex? i am sitting smack-dab in the middle of the largest concentration of military installations and assets on the east coast. perhaps uncle sam decided that there's no way his sailors, etc. won't have enough gas to drive into work? ok, tin-foil hat off now.

seriously RE, it doesn't look like there are going to be any problems here, wish i understood exactly why, since it seems to me like there should be at least some shortages here.

I noticed in another thread the mention of nashville being supplied by BARGES up the tenn river perhaps?

lower Fla has fuel, upper fla does not...

[the48thronin]

And the shortage continues.

I rode my bike up to the same QT I where I shot those photos yesterday, and it's just as bad as ever. I must say kudos to QT for being on the ball and adapting to the crushing volume of gas-hungry cars, making sure that people don't cut in line, etc. The truck stop portion, which has its forecourt on the opposite side was still pumping diesel with no restriction, at $3.89 a gallon.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, how much is a video worth?

I'll let you folks decide:

[video width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/B8FnijiZJo4[/video]

So, there you have it. Peak Oil in action.

Watch, and learn.

I clicked the video link and it returned "we are sorry this video is no longer available"

Nancy Pelocy said you could see the text of the new bailout agreement at financialservices.house.gov or speaker.house.gov the house.gov server has been slammed ever since...LOL