Texas AG warns gas stations against raising prices in Harvey aftermath

[corbe]

Texas AG warns gas stations against raising prices in Harvey aftermath

 By Josh Delk - 08/31/17 08:40 PM EDT 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday warned gas stations in the state against taking advantage of people affected by Tropical Storm Harvey, saying his office received more than 500 complaints of high gas prices around the state.

The complaints alleged that gas stations in Dallas, a city on the edge of the storm's radius, were charging between $6-8 per gallon of gasoline, according to the attorney general's statement.

<..snip..>

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/348802-texas-ag-warns-gas-stations-against-raising-prices-amid-harvey

[corbe]

   Went up 10 cents in the Texas Hill Country last 18 hours, Lines are forming at my local, don't know if it's Hoarders or we really are running out of Gas.

  Currently $2.20

[bigheadfred]

   Went up 10 cents in the Texas Hill Country last 18 hours, Lines are forming at my local, don't know if it's Hoarders or we really are running out of Gas.

  Currently $2.20

Ours went up to $2.69 for the eclipse and it is still there. Was at $2.25.

[anubias]

Ours has gone up ten cents per day.  Long lines and many stations out of gas.

[Victoria33]

I said one/two days ago to fill your tank as gas would be scarce in Texas.  Gas stations in Dallas and Denton are out of gas.  Today, there were long lines of cars at gas stations until there was no more gas.  We were also in Denton, Texas, and there were no cars at gas stations and pumps were covered with red plastic covers as there was no gas in them.  I also said the Energy Department (the federal government) would have to use reserves and now they have opened the reserves and sent 500,000 barrels to a refinery that is still in operation in Louisiana.

"With Americans using about 9.7 million barrels per day of gasoline, the threat of a fuel supply crunch has grown as the storm and flooding in Harvey's aftermath brought a huge chunk of U.S. oil production and refining capacity to a halt. As of Thursday, some 15 refineries representing about 25 percent of U.S. refining capacity were offline from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Port Arthur, Texas, the Energy Department reported. That includes Motiva Enterprises, the nation's biggest refinery, which announced Wednesday it would begin a 'controlled shutdown.'"

[Wingnut]

Gas prices always rise prior to the labor day weekend travel holiday.  Nothing to see here just a few market disruptions along with normal price creep.  It will self correct by next wednesday.

[anubias]

I said one/two days ago to fill your tank as gas would be scarce in Texas.  Gas stations in Dallas and Denton are out of gas.  Today, there were long lines of cars at gas stations until there was no more gas.  We were also in Denton, Texas, and there were no cars at gas stations and pumps were covered with red plastic covers as there was no gas in them.  I also said the Energy Department (the federal government) would have to use reserves and now they have opened the reserves and sent 500,000 barrels to a refinery that is still in operation in Louisiana.

"With Americans using about 9.7 million barrels per day of gasoline, the threat of a fuel supply crunch has grown as the storm and flooding in Harvey's aftermath brought a huge chunk of U.S. oil production and refining capacity to a halt. As of Thursday, some 15 refineries representing about 25 percent of U.S. refining capacity were offline from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Port Arthur, Texas, the Energy Department reported. That includes Motiva Enterprises, the nation's biggest refinery, which announced Wednesday it would begin a 'controlled shutdown.'"

It was the fools running to top off their tanks whether they needed the gas or not that caused the shortage.  Yelling "Fire!" in a theater because you think a fire could possibly occur sometime in the future is unwise.  Being smug after the yell, when everyone has been trampled isn't exactly in good form either.

[Wingnut]

It was the fools running to top off their tanks whether they needed the gas or not that caused the shortage.  Yelling "Fire!" in a theater because you think a fire could possibly occur sometime in the future is unwise.  Being smug after the yell, when everyone has been trampled isn't exactly in good form either.

You can yell "Fire"  But you can't yell "Wolf"*

*_{“The Constitution does not say that a person can shout…yell ‘wolf’ in a crowded theater. If you are endangering people, then you don’t have a constitutional right to do that" So says Constitutional and Great quotations scholar, Nancy Pelosi}

[Suppressed]

Well, preventing the prices from rising will ensure nobody spends the money to drive fuel there from elsewhere.

[thackney]

I said one/two days ago to fill your tank as gas would be scarce in Texas.  Gas stations in Dallas and Denton are out of gas.  Today, there were long lines of cars at gas stations until there was no more gas.  We were also in Denton, Texas, and there were no cars at gas stations and pumps were covered with red plastic covers as there was no gas in them.  I also said the Energy Department (the federal government) would have to use reserves and now they have opened the reserves and sent 500,000 barrels to a refinery that is still in operation in Louisiana.

"With Americans using about 9.7 million barrels per day of gasoline, the threat of a fuel supply crunch has grown as the storm and flooding in Harvey's aftermath brought a huge chunk of U.S. oil production and refining capacity to a halt. As of Thursday, some 15 refineries representing about 25 percent of U.S. refining capacity were offline from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Port Arthur, Texas, the Energy Department reported. That includes Motiva Enterprises, the nation's biggest refinery, which announced Wednesday it would begin a 'controlled shutdown.'"

https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/08/f36/Hurricane%20Harvey%20Event%20Summary%20%2312_0.pdf

As of 03:00 PM EDT, August 31, 10 refineries in the Gulf Coast region remain shut down,
according to public reports. These refineries have a combined refining capacity of 3,075,229 b/d,
equal to 31.7% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity and 16.6% of total U.S. refining
capacity.

Six refineries had begun the process of restarting, which may take a several days or weeks
depending whether they have been damaged. These refineries have a combined capacity of
1,269,720 b/d, equal to 13.1% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity and 4.2% of total U.S.

Two refineries in the Gulf Coast region were operating at reduced rates. The refineries have a
combined capacity of 688,776 b/d, equal to 7.1% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity
and 3.7% of total U.S. refining capacity.
refining capacity.

[thackney]

https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/08/f36/Hurricane%20Harvey%20Event%20Summary%20%2312_0.pdf

As of 03:00 PM EDT, August 31,

New update released:

Tropical Depression Harvey
Event Report (Update #13)
REPORT TIME & DATE: 10:00 AM EDT | Friday, September 1, 2017
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/09/f36/Hurricane%20Harvey%20Event%20Summary%20%2313.pdf

....PETROLEUM REFINERIES

Four refineries in the Gulf Coast region were operating at reduced rates (an increase of two).
The refineries have a combined capacity of 1,104,776, b/d, equal to 11.4% of total Gulf Coast
(PADD 3) refining capacity and 6% of total U.S. refining capacity.

Six refineries had begun the process of restarting from being shut down, which may take a
several days or weeks to start producing product, depending whether they have been
damaged. These refineries have a combined capacity of 1,269,720 b/d, equal to 13.1% of total
Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity and 4.2% of total U.S. refining capacity.

As of 08:00 AM EDT, September 1, 10 refineries in the Gulf Coast region were shut down,
according to public reports. These refineries have a combined refining capacity of 3,075,229
b/d, equal to 31.7% of total Gulf Coast (PADD 3) refining capacity and 16.6% of total U.S.
refining capacity.

[Sanguine]

I heeded Victoria's advice so I have a full tank at a reasonableish price. 

[Hurricane Andrew]

Well, preventing the prices from rising will ensure nobody spends the money to drive fuel there from elsewhere.

Bingo.

[jedidah]

Much of the problem is distribution, not to mention panic

Stations ran out yesterday, but many got new deliveries last night.  Gas was hard to find last night; long lines.  There is gas available this morning.

We all just need to cooperate and live in moderation for a short while.

I'm in DFW.

[Wingnut]

They have these things...I think they call them "Apps"  A friend of mine in HEB said it told them which stations had gas and the cost.  I told him he was making that up because all the news reports said there was no gas to be found in the entire DFW metroplex.

[Sanguine]

They have these things...I think they call them "Apps"  A friend of mine in HEB said it told them which stations had gas and the cost.  I told him he was making that up because all the news reports said there was no gas to be found in the entire DFW metroplex.

Yes, GasBuddy is one of them.

[Victoria33]

Yelling "Fire!" in a theater because you think a fire could possibly occur sometime in the future is unwise.  Being smug after the yell, when everyone has been trampled isn't exactly in good form either.

@anubias
@Sanguine

My first report was from an earth scientist retired from Exxon/Mobil.  He knew there would be a shortage based on the condition of the refineries. He knew the Energy Dept. would open the reserves, which they did.   He also knew the price would go up.   I put that report on here so people here could get gas before it dried up. My report didn't make the gas scarce or hike the price, I simply reported what was going to happen and it did.  Some on here said it wouldn't happen, and one said refineries were working putting out copious amounts of gas right then.  That is the report that was false, mine wasn't.

[jedidah]

They have these things...I think they call them "Apps"  A friend of mine in HEB said it told them which stations had gas and the cost.  I told him he was making that up because all the news reports said there was no gas to be found in the entire DFW metroplex.

http://tracker.gasbuddy.com/Search.aspx?t=search

[berdie]

I'm about 65 miles away from Dallas in a small community. I work there, but am on vacation this week. Everybody I talked to in Dallas said the lines are horrible.

I stopped for gas yesterday. Both cars on either side of me were filling up multiple large gas cans and putting them in the trunks of their cars.

This really doesn't seem like a very good option to me...but what the heck do I know?

[Sanguine]

@berdie, I really think things will settle down and be back to semi-normal next week.  People just overreacting.   

[berdie]

@berdie, I really think things will settle down and be back to semi-normal next week.  People just overreacting.

That is my opinion as well @Sanguine . If I hadn't been so low on gas yesterday, I'd have just waited until next week.

[anubias]

Gas prices always rise with a Hurricane in the Gulf. Everybody running to fill up to save those dimes is what causes the problem. I filled up this morning at $2.59 per gallon. Up 30 cents.  Not nearly as painful as expected. No lines here, thank goodness!  I guess the rush was over by the time I went.

[Smokin Joe]

Gas prices always rise with a Hurricane in the Gulf. Everybody running to fill up to save those dimes is what causes the problem. I filled up this morning at $2.59 per gallon. Up 30 cents.  Not nearly as painful as expected. No lines here, thank goodness!  I guess the rush was over by the time I went.

87  octane E10 at 2.89 in North Dakota today. This isn't exactly a Labor Day hotspot, so I'd guess supplier uncertainties drive that. In retail, this load will have to pay for the next, which is why prices go up fast and come down slow.

[Gefn]

I got gas on Wednesday at 2.30 a gallon. Saturday it was 2.75 or 2.79 depending on which station you went to.

That's a pretty big jump in a few days. Could be from the hurricane, or could be gouging for Labor Day weekend everyone goes down to the shore, school starts again on either Tuesday or Wednesday

[Oceander]

Why is market-pricing always called gouging, at least when prices go up because demand has gone up - as basic Econ 101 tells us they should.  And how come nobody ever salutes sellers as selfless patriots when they bring prices down?