Raleigh, N.C. — Despite restoration efforts, over half of North Carolina gas stations remained without fuel on Sunday afternoon.
GasBuddy.com reports that 57% of gas stations were showing outages at 9 p.m.
Colonial Pipeline announced it had resumed "normal operations" on Saturday night. According data from GasBuddy, "the epicenter of of restoration efforts appears to be in NC at present time."
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said that prices could drop back below $3 a gallon this week. The average price of gas is currently $3.029 a gallon.
The WRAL Fuel Tracker showed many stations in the Triangle had gas – but many of them didn't have all of their normal options available.
"Most stations are likely 100% focusing on replenishing regular gasoline at present," said De Haan.
After they have replenished those stores, he said, they will likely begin focusing on premium.
Despite tankers bringing gas into the state, many in the Triangle reported long lines for gas, despite seeing fuel deliveries. Gas station clerks told them that the pumps can't be turned on right away.
Gary Harris, the executive director for North Carolina Petroleum & Convenience Marketers said this tactic is done as a safety precaution. He explained that letting people immediately pump gas after a delivery can clog the pumps.
It takes about an hour to reset the connection of more fuel to pumps, according to Harris, and that shutting the pumps down to drivers while tankers are dropping fuel prevents them from being damaged.
"If the pumps are put on while the tankers are dropping fuel ... when the pumps are lifted [and] when the nozzles are lifted, it causes a problem with the tank monitoring system, and the tank monitoring system has to be reset and that takes a few moments to do it," said Harris.
The limited fuel supply has taken its toll on Fayetteville Appliance Repair owner Marcus Boyd.
"The first thing that came to my mind is, how are my techs going to get to their calls?" Boyd said.
With fuel deliveries underway, Boyd said he has seven technicians having a hard time getting access to the pump.
"You've got guys sitting in the line for an hour and a half, and then you get up there and you can't get gas," he added.
Colonial Pipeline resumed normal operations Saturday
Colonial Pipeline said in a tweet, “We have returned the system to normal operations, delivering millions of gallons per hour to the markets we serve,” Colonial Pipeline said in a tweet Saturday. Those markets include Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“All of these markets are now receiving product from our pipeline,” the company said, noting how its employees across the pipeline “worked safely and tirelessly around the clock to get our lines up and running.”
Gas shortages, which spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., have been improving since a peak on Thursday night. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told The Associated Press on Friday that the nation is “over the hump” on gas shortages, with about 200 stations returning to service every hour.
“It’s still going to work its way through the system over the next few days, but we should be back to normal fairly soon," she said.
Some drivers responded angrily on Facebook Saturday to a post by ABC-13 in Asheville, North Carolina, about the pipeline resuming normal operations. Several said the majority of gas stations still did not have fuel and those that did receive deliveries were quickly selling out.
Martha Meade, manager for public and government relations at AAA Mid-Atlantic, said many gas stations in the Virginia area still did not have gas on Saturday. But she said “lines have diminished from the height of the crisis” and “panic buying has subsided.”
Multiple sources confirmed to The Associated Press that Colonial Pipeline had paid the criminals who committed the cyberattack a ransom of nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency for the software decryption key required to unscramble their data network.
The ransom — 75 Bitcoin — was paid last Saturday, a day after the criminals locked up Colonial’s corporate network, according to Tom Robinson, co-founder of the cryptocurrency-tracking firm Elliptic. Prior to Robinson’s blog post, two people briefed on the case had confirmed the payment amount to AP.
The pipeline system delivers about 45% of the gasoline consumed on the East Coast.
"fuel" - Google News
May 16, 2021 at 03:35AM
https://ift.tt/3olUyIA
Over half of North Carolina gas stations remain without fuel, despite restoration efforts - WRAL.com
"fuel" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2WjmVcZ
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Over half of North Carolina gas stations remain without fuel, despite restoration efforts - WRAL.com"
Post a Comment