Hurricane Harvey

[haha]

AJA , So glad that you & your wife are safe and she is on the way home.

Me too! That must have very difficult for both of you.

Ha

 

[aja8888]

Thanks for the kind words, Moemg, haha and others; it was a tough week as she had heart surgery Wednesday afternoon and went into ICU for the balance of Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I visited her and left before the big rains started. That was the last time I could even attempt to make the 50 mile trip to the hospital until one freeway opened up Wednesday enough to get me into Houston proper. I worked my way around flooded areas and made it to the Medical Center south of town.

Fortunately, she was well enough to discharge and I got her home last night. We were spared any flooding since we are far enough from Spring Creek and other water bodies. It's good to be home and safe.

 

[REWahoo]

Another ripple effect of Hurricane Harvey:

72 percent of San Antonio gas stations out of fuel as panic continues

Some 450 of the over 600 gas stations in the city reported being out of fuel Friday evening.

This could get ugly if the kinks and bottlenecks in the distribution system doesn't get worked out soon. Reminds me of the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970's.

 

[MichaelB]

Another ripple effect of Hurricane Harvey:

72 percent of San Antonio gas stations out of fuel as panic continues

Some 450 of the over 600 gas stations in the city reported being out of fuel Friday evening.

This could get ugly if the kinks and bottlenecks in the distribution system doesn't get worked out soon. Reminds me of the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970's.

This is what happens when a hurricane hits South Florida. Gasoline is trucked in, and transport is suspended during the storm. Even a mild storm might mean 3 or 4 days without gas. A real hardship for people that must drive to work. This is the main drawback of just in time business process. Any disruption in the supply chain has a cascading impact.

The worst part is, there is nothing to be done for the Texans suffering from this latest challenge. All the money in the world won't buy a gallon of gas when there's none to be had.

 

[Breedlove]

I think this gas and diesel fuel thing will work itself out pretty soon . It is out there you just have to find it .
Some of the racks are down but coming up quick and the refineries will be up soon.
Some distributors have all the gasoline or diesel you want some don't . If you deal with the wrong distributor you are out of gas .

The Gov. is releasing oil from the strategic reserves to prevent a whole lot of price spiking. just be patient

 

[REWahoo]

It is out there you just have to find it .

This Gas Buddy map [zoom in to a location] says there isn't much out there at least in my area - and by the time you drive to where it is it will probably be where it was.

GasBuddy Gasoline Availability Tracker

Sure glad I'm not having to worry about how I'll get to work on Tuesday...

 

[easysurfer]

Major pipeline starting from Texas and runs up east is shut down.

Map of pipeline ...

 

[Just_Steve]

Gas jumped in price here from $2.23 >$2.89, liget or gouging? Who knows.
Can't wait to see heating oil prices.

 

[easysurfer]

Gas jumped in price here from $2.23 >$2.89, liget or gouging? Who knows.
Can't wait to see heating oil prices.

I'll have to step away from my normal conspiracy frame of mind and say legit. Just bad timing that all this happened right before the labor day holiday.

 

[W2R]

Gasbuddy says that gas at my Exxon station is the same price it was on 8/24, when I last filled the tank. It says that a competing Exxon station in our suburb, that usually sells gas at the same price, has raised the price 20 cents. Seems like blatant price gouging to me, but then what do I know. As easysurfer pointed out, it's a holiday weekend. The gas availability map says "unknown" for all the stations in my suburb.

Luckily, I don't use much gas so I refill the tank maybe once a month.

 

[txtig]

Gas jumped in price here from $2.23 >$2.89, liget or gouging? Who knows.
Can't wait to see heating oil prices.

I am going to open myself up to criticism, but I disagree with laws that prevent "price gouging" in the event of a natural disaster. Artificially holding down price of gasoline or milk or any commodity leads to people hoarding more than they would buy under normal circumstances, causing shortages or completely selling out things like gasoline. If prices were allowed to rise according to the laws of supply and demand, people would be less likely to buy more than they need and the existing supplies would be more available for everyone. I would rather pay a premium and still be able to fill my tank, than not be able to buy gas at all.

 

[Rustic23]

I read this several years ago when gas prices were high and going higher. The stations, especially the independent stations were saying that they had to raise their prices in anticipation to what they thought they were going to have to pay for their next gallon of gas replacing what was in their tank. Makes some since. although they may have paid a buck a gallon for what is in their tank, if they expect to have to pay say 2 bucks for their next fill up, they must charge the increase or they won't have the cash to make the purchase.

I have no idea if this is what's going on now.

 

[meierlde]

Gas jumped in price here from $2.23 >$2.89, liget or gouging? Who knows.
Can't wait to see heating oil prices.

Unless you need to buy in the next couple of weeks there should be little impact. Apparently there was not a lot of damage to the refieneries, so some are already restarting others will in the next couple of weeks. Experts talk of things lasting a couple of weeks. BTW you can get a guess on heating oil prices by looking at the price of diesel and how it changes. The big demand right now is gasoline.

 

[W2R]

Gasbuddy says that gas at my Exxon station is the same price it was on 8/24, when I last filled the tank. It says that a competing Exxon station in our suburb, that usually sells gas at the same price, has raised the price 20 cents. Seems like blatant price gouging to me, but then what do I know. As easysurfer pointed out, it's a holiday weekend. The gas availability map says "unknown" for all the stations in my suburb.

Luckily, I don't use much gas so I refill the tank maybe once a month.

I just got a call from F, who is filling his gas tank right now. He says that the price at our gas station also went up 20 cents. I guess nobody reported that fact to Gasbuddy. He only gets gas twice a month, and I only get it once a month. So, if we buy 17 gallons at each fill-up, then for me that would be an extra $3.40/month and for him an extra $6.80. But in reality we will probably just refrain from driving so much, and end up paying about the same as before.

 

[aja8888]

The same thing happens when orange crops get frozen out in Florida and orange juice prices go higher. It's all about commodities and supply and demand.

 

[Walt34]

I just got a call from F, who is filling his gas tank right now. He says that the price at our gas station also went up 20 cents.

Glad I filled up the pickup truck and two 5 gal. gas cans a couple of days ago. Using grocery store points that were about to expire I got $1.20 off per gallon for 25 gallons. That should hold us until things are fairly near normal.

DW is about to head off tomorrow to NC to spend some time with her sister, niece, and the two grandnephews at the beach in NC. Her sister drew the short straw and is driving!

 

[NW-Bound]

I am going to open myself up to criticism, but I disagree with laws that prevent "price gouging" in the event of a natural disaster. Artificially holding down price of gasoline or milk or any commodity leads to people hoarding more than they would buy under normal circumstances, causing shortages or completely selling out things like gasoline. If prices were allowed to rise according to the laws of supply and demand, people would be less likely to buy more than they need and the existing supplies would be more available for everyone. I would rather pay a premium and still be able to fill my tank, than not be able to buy gas at all.

+1

Else, to combat overbuying for hoarding, a rationing plan has to be put in place and we know how messy that can be. This shortage should not be long lasting anyway.

 

[dixonge]

If prices were allowed to rise according to the laws of supply and demand, people would be less likely to buy more than they need and the existing supplies would be more available for everyone. I would rather pay a premium and still be able to fill my tank, than not be able to buy gas at all.

The existing supplies would be more available for everyone *who can afford the higher price* - a lot of people would be forced to choose between rent, groceries, and the ability to get to work. These people also can't afford to hoard. They are screwed in either scenario.

 

[Texas Proud]

Gasbuddy says that gas at my Exxon station is the same price it was on 8/24, when I last filled the tank. It says that a competing Exxon station in our suburb, that usually sells gas at the same price, has raised the price 20 cents. Seems like blatant price gouging to me, but then what do I know. As easysurfer pointed out, it's a holiday weekend. The gas availability map says "unknown" for all the stations in my suburb.

Luckily, I don't use much gas so I refill the tank maybe once a month.

Usually the price is changed when a delivery is made... so the one station might not have received the new higher priced gas and that is why it is low...

Not price gouging...

 

[LOL!]

Check out what happens when supply and demand does not apply in Venezuela:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/...holas-maduro-inflation-economic-collapse.html

 

[MichaelB]

There's not always one "right" answer. Gasoline is a critical commodity for most of us, and the storm makes is suddenly scarce. If the price goes up, lower income people suffer the heaviest burden. If the price is controlled, there is no way to fairly allocate the existing stock of fuel, and selling it may not generate enough cash to replace the inventory for the retail stations. Not all problems have solutions - and this is one good example.

 

[bigcmagor]

Usually the price is changed when a delivery is made... so the one station might not have received the new higher priced gas and that is why it is low...

Not price gouging...

I wouldn't expect a retailer to sell a gallon of gas to me for less than he's going to have to pay to replace the inventory. Sure, they will make a nice margin on the inventory on hand as a result, but that is the reward for investing in the inventory. It works the same way when the market for commodities tank and the retailer sells at a loss to compete with those who didn't have the inventory on hand and sell at a lower price.

 

[NW-Bound]

The existing supplies would be more available for everyone *who can afford the higher price* - a lot of people would be forced to choose between rent, groceries, and the ability to get to work. These people also can't afford to hoard. They are screwed in either scenario.

True. Except if the price increase was from $2.23 to $2.89 as one poster reported, it was not too bad given the situation we are in. Do people remember the price of nearly $5 in 2007 when crude was at $150/barrel? It's always supply and demand, and it was world-wide problem then that drove the price so high.

And the above outrageous price drove the supply and all that drilling, and we have gas as cheap as it is now. And that caused energy stocks to take a beating as they have been the last 2-3 years. Supply and demand. There's no escaping that, just like there's no escape from flooding when you've got 50" of rain in a day or two.

 

[W2R]

I just got a call from F, who is filling his gas tank right now. He says that the price at our gas station also went up 20 cents. I guess nobody reported that fact to Gasbuddy. He only gets gas twice a month, and I only get it once a month. So, if we buy 17 gallons at each fill-up, then for me that would be an extra $3.40/month and for him an extra $6.80. But in reality we will probably just refrain from driving so much, and end up paying about the same as before.

Usually the price is changed when a delivery is made... so the one station might not have received the new higher priced gas and that is why it is low...

Not price gouging...

It could be that, good point; or I was thinking that maybe nobody reported the price to Gasbuddy when it first increased.

Speaking of Gasbuddy, that site was sure hosed yesterday, for me. It was slow and kept freezing up. Maybe a lot of people are using it to find out what stations still have gas. From what I have read from some online friends on other forums, many stations in Texas (like, San Antonio?) appear to be closed. Stations here in New Orleans all seem to have gas.

 

[REWahoo]

From what I have read from some online friends on other forums, many stations in Texas (like, San Antonio?) appear to be closed.

Some without gas are closed, many are still open but I'm not sure why. The only traffic they see are people slowly cruising by the pumps to see if there is a bag over the pump handle...