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Chattanooga: Panic buying fuels gas shortage

By: Brian Lazenby
(Contact)

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Randy Bly

Chattanooga still is experiencing sporadic gas outages, which retailers say is having an unexpected impact on their businesses.

Randy Bly, community relations manager for AAA Auto Club South, said he has Chattanooga on the “watch” list, meaning sporadic gas outages could continue. He said the Southeast is receiving the brunt of the hurricane-induced supply shortage.

Mike DuPree, general manager at DuPree Oil, said 23 stations, almost all of them in Hamilton County, have notified him that they are out of gas or are about to be out.

He said on Monday that he is expecting a small shipment from Pure, which he will have to divide up among his customers.

“That means two or three (stations) per truck,” he said. “We’ll pick the ones that have been out the longest.”

Ashish Chaudhari, who manages the Kanku’s station at East 23rd and Market streets, said he ran out of all fuel grades Sunday night.

“I’m told there is no more until Wednesday,” he said.

In the meantime, Mr. Chaudhari is trying to remain positive despite fewer people pulling onto his lot, and thus fewer entering his store to buy other merchandise.

“We are seeing this for the first time,” he said looking around his empty store. “I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

Dan Wolfe, general manager at Hamilton Place mall, said he is unsure what impact the gas shortage might be having on mall traffic. It is possible that people are staying home to conserve fuel, Mr. Wolfe said, but it also is possible that the gas shortage could bolster mall business.

“I’ve thought since we are a one-stop-shopping destination it might even help us,” he said. “People can come here and eat, they can shop, they can get services done, get their hair done, their nails, all without driving around.”

Thom Benson, spokesman for the Tennessee Aquarium, said he attributes a recent drop in attendance by city visitors to gas prices, gas availability and the overall economy.

“We are certainly seeing a drop in the surrounding market, but locally attendance is up,” he said, noting a 30 percent to 40 percent drop in attendance from outside the Chattanooga area.

Mr. Bly said Nashville, which was plagued with gas outages last weekend, is just about back to normal. The problem areas now are Atlanta and North Georgia, as well as areas in North Carolina, where officials said panic buying is making a bad situation worse, he said.

The Southeast could see fluctuating fuel supplies for several more days, he said.

“It is going to fluctuate,” he said. “The problem is many people panic buy, and it is hard to get a handle on the situation when that is happening.”

Mr. DuPree said his Citgo supplier was out of all grades of gasoline on Monday, but he was expecting to get a shipment of premium grade late Monday afternoon or evening. They are not expected to have regular unleaded gas until at least today, he said.

“The problem is I have used up my monthly allocation from Citgo, so unless they issue additional allocations, I can’t deliver gasoline,” Mr. DuPree said.

He said he is trying to find some unbranded gasoline but is having trouble.

“As far as I know there is no unbranded gasoline available,” Mr. DuPree said.

Mr. Bly said the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies gasoline to this area, is operating, but it is not running at full capacity. There are three Texas refineries still off-line after power to those facilities was damaged by Hurricane Ike earlier this month, he said.

“Most are up and running, but it can take up to a week from when refineries get up and running and making fuel,” Mr. Bly said. “It’s just a matter of getting all the refineries operating at full capacity.”

On Monday, light, sweet crude fell more than $10 a barrel to close at $96.36 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the U.S. House voted to reject the financial bailout plan, records show.

Officials said the pump prices in the Chattanooga area likely will not reflect the crude price plunge due to low supplies and high demand.

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