Area gas stations hike prices; some pumps run dry

After Hurricane Ike prompted Texas oil refineries to halt operations Friday, the Lynchburg area saw a run on gas stations that led to quick price jumps and left some stations without fuel.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine asked Virginians not to overreact, to refuel “according to their normal routine” and to conserve gasoline by not taking unnecessary trips.

Still, Lynchburg-area drivers lined up Friday to buy gas while the pumps were still running and before prices spiked.

“We went through 4,000 gallons in three hours,” said Crystal Queen, a cashier at a Shell station at Timberlake and Old Graves Mill roads.

“This is pandemonium.”

The Shell station’s tank hit empty around 5 p.m. While rows of cars were trying to turn in, the store’s employees set out cones to halt the traffic.

Katie Wilson filled up her 1995 Nissan Maxima at the Sheetz on Lakeside Drive around 5:15 p.m.

She had already put $20 in on her lunch break, but she and her co-workers got text messages from their employer saying that gas would cost $5 per gallon by the end of the day.

Gas prices in Lynchburg jumped 20 cents just in the morning, and kept climbing in some locations.

In Amherst, several stations jumped from $3.59 to $3.99 per gallon of regular gas by 4:30 p.m.

Wilson filled up on premium gasoline for $3.99 a gallon, since the station had just run out of regular. It was out of gas completely later in the day.

“I don’t want to be paying like $6 or $7, if that’s how much it’s going to end up being,” she said.

The price jump at the pump worried some government officials that price gouging could occur.

While wholesale and retail gas prices are expected to rise, the governor’s office asked people to call the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs

at (800) 552-9963 if they

feel prices have jumped

unnecessarily.

The gas run caused traffic jams and safety concerns in several parts of the area.

Lynchburg Emergency Communications reported traffic tie-ups Friday afternoon because of the gasoline situation at several locations, including Timberlake Road near Laxton Road, Candlers Mountain Road, Lakeside Drive, Old Forest Road and Wards Road.

“The cars being backed up into the street makes it kind of dangerous,” said William Aldrich, director of Lynchburg’s Emergency Communications Center.

Lynchburg Police Captain Brandon Zuidema said officers were being sent to traffic tie-ups to see if assistance was needed to restore traffic flow. At 4:30 p.m., officers had to start directing traffic at the Wilco station on Campbell Avenue due to the traffic

problems.

Those efforts tied up resources to handle other problems in the city. “It’s frustrating on everyone’s part, including ours,” Zuidema said.

Local gas stations weren’t the only places where long lines formed.

Sheetz Inc. fuels most of its five Lynchburg-area stores with gasoline from the refineries that closed. So Sheetz sent tankers north to pick up fuel.

But, of course, so are other suppliers.

“We literally have tankers sitting in line, waiting to get to the front of the line” to fill up, said Sheetz spokeswoman Monica Jones. “We’re doing our best to get product down there from other spots, but supply is pretty tight right now.”

The Sheetz on Lakeside Drive and the one on Wards Road in Campbell County completely ran out of gasoline Friday night, but they should receive more shipments soon, she said.

BP cut its ration of gasoline that goes to local Apple Markets to 70 percent of normal, said Warner Hall,

president of Workman Oil Company.

He said that considering the company’s current supplies, the Apple Market stores on Friday were not limiting gasoline

purchases.

The Pantry convenience store chain, which has about 1,600 stations in 11 southern states, saw things differently.

It asked customers at about half of its locations to buy only 10 gallons of gas at a time.

Similar requests were made during hurricanes Rita and Katrina to slow panic buying, CEO Pete Sodini said. The chain’s stores include Kangaroo and Petro Express.

Hall said the current situation also doesn’t justify panic buying. However, “if we get notification at about 5 o’clock today that the terminal is out of gas, then it’s totally justified,” he said.

“It could get better, or it could get worse, but I assume it’s going to get a lot worse.”

Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. were among the companies that stopped refinery operations on the Texas coast, primarily in the Houston area. The area accounts for about 20 percent of U.S. refining capacity.

A news release from the governor’s office said several agencies are taking steps to help get gasoline to areas in the state that need it.

State agencies have issued waivers to allow gasoline tanker trucks to skip weigh stations and get to stations more quickly.

The state has asked the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to waive the use of the more expensive summer blend of gasoline.

In a news release, Kaine said, “While we should have adequate supplies in Virginia, we ask Virginians to do what they can to help people in the Gulf region by conserving fuel by not taking unnecessary trips or wasting gasoline.”