An alert reader from the South who is experiencing localized gasoline shortages asks some questions, such as:
"Some of us were talking recently about the gas situation. It seems our gas comes from the refiners by pipe line. Where is the pipeline which brings gas to our area located?"
The main source of gasoline supply to the Southeast is the Colonial Pipeline. Here's a system map. Wikipedia describes the basics of its operation.
The general problem right now is that supplies have been curtailed due to the shutdown of refineries on the Gulf Coast because of hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Even when damage has been repaired, there have been electricity problems that have delayed re-starts. Most are coming back online now.
So gas stations across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states are having trouble keeping supplied. Then drivers have started topping off and made the situation worse.
The Washington Post, after telling some stories of desperate drivers, described the situation pretty well.
AAA spokesman John Townsend said that Colonial Pipeline, a leading supplier in the region, and the smaller Plantation Pipeline, which belongs to Kinder Morgan, were functioning below capacity because of lingering refinery problems along the Gulf coast. A spokesman for Colonial, whose Web site displays a news release from Sept. 10 before Hurricane Ike hit, did not return calls for comment.The Energy Department said that as of Wednesday 63 percent, or 800,000 barrels a day, of production in the Gulf of Mexico was still shut down as were five refineries with a combined capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day. The refineries produce a half-million barrels of gasoline a day, or about 5 percent of the nation's total supplies. Other refineries are still working at less than full capacity. Hurricane Gustav landed Sept. 1, and Ike hit Sept. 13.
"The production loss is similar to what was lost after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina," said Anne Peebles, a Shell Oil spokeswoman. "This time the physical damage [to oil facilities] was not as great, but the down time with the storms hitting back to back is similar." She said that "more fuel is coming" as facilities gradually ramp up again, but "we do think that production availability will normalize in the next several weeks."
Townsend said that the Colonial pipeline normally carries 100 million gallons a day, traveling about 2,500 miles from Texas, Louisiana and Alabama to 267 marketing terminals across the East and Southeast. Although nearly 15 percent of the gas stations in Virginia were reporting outages last week, the Washington region has been able to tap into supplies from areas such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which can more readily obtain supplies from tanker and other pipelines. Earlier supply problems in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Tallahassee also had eased, he said.
Other areas of the country were not so fortunate. An Atlanta Exxon dealer said that his station's allocation was only 40 percent of normal. [...]
Public officials appealed for calm as it appeared that panic buying might exacerbate supply problems if motorists try to keep more fuel than usual in their tanks. The Environmental Protection Agency suspended regulations for antipollution additives to help ease the supply situation.
Then there were related questions:
"Is all gas the same? What makes it one brand or the other is the additives which each company puts in to make it different?"
And the answer there is yes, all gasoline is basically the same. Base gasoline is the same and is freely exchanged between different companies. When the trucks are loaded at the big gasoline terminals, additives are added depending on where the gasoline will be delivered. So a delivery of Shell gasoline will have certain proprietary additives; an Exxon shipment would have different ones. Even no-name gasoline has generic additives.
People, including experts, differ on whether or not these additives are worth the higher prices. Sometimes it depends on the car, and some people do have different experiences with different brands. So, buying gasoline based just on price would usually be a pretty safe bet. Changing the oil regularly is more important for the engine's health, and keeping the tire pressure correct and watching speed is more important for mileage than any gasoline additives. If the extra few cents are affordable, then the "name" brands may be just a little better than generic gasoline.
Posted by Alan at September 28, 2008 09:04 AM