In case you haven't heard, Phoenix is having a gas crisis right now. No, it's not too many people eating bad food - we're just running out of gas here.
Two weeks ago, a pipeline in Tucson broke, and spilled some 12,000 gallons of fuel in a neighborhood. No reports of it in Phoenix. Gas prices? Stable.
A week ago, a story broke on azcentral.com about this. Gas prices that day? Stable (it actually went down a few cents from the day before).
So what happened? On Thursday, all heck broke loose here. Gas stations started running low on fuel. Not too big of a problem. We're still getting gas here, but it has to be trucked in.
So here's what happened: on Thursday, prices shot up about 30 cents a gallon (or more). On Friday, it was pretty stable, only going up a few more cents. On Saturday, prices started topping $1.90 for regular fuel at most stations (an increase of 50 cents a gallon).
Sunday was bad here. Lines of people stretching around blocks. People waiting in lines for hours to get gas. You get the idea. Some stations reportedly start bumping above $2.00 for regular.
We then have the most expensive gas in the nation.
Today, most stations are out of fuel (I passed 12 empty stations, and encountered an almost full fuel station (of cars - not fuel) at 3:45am!! Thinking that it would be a wise idea to fill up my car (I was just under a half tank), I filled up my Honda.
Thankfully I did, as 30 minutes later, they were out of gas as well. People that I work with from all over the east valley were unable to find gas this morning. One woman did, and waited for an hour - she started waiting at 5am.
So as I'm driving home, I start to hear reports of *very* high gas prices. $2.97 for regular gas in Globe. One station in northen Phoenix was charging $4.27 per gallon of regular gas (premium was $4.97 a gallon). Of course, the news crews get there and he changed the gas prices (but he didn't clear a pump that showed a guy paying $75.00 for 17 gallons of gas).
I also saw lines that were upwards of a half mile long just to get gas. About this time, I realized that I should be selling gas - forget about working with computers!
It looks like it's going to be an intersting week here, as the pipeline isn't expected to be fixed and operational for the next week or so.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Argh! I can't call my parents because the stupid sewer workers cut our phone lines.(thank you for DSL lines, powers-that be) Is it just Phoenix? My dad might be stuck in Prescott.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
It would seem that the problem is only affecting the Phoenix area. There was gas in Eloy and Tucson on Saturday. I don't know about north of the Valley. I can't help but wonder why nothing was said about the pipeline problem (from weeks ago) until late last week. It is also fairly interesting that there is plenty of gas in the large storage tanks on the west side of Phoenix. The problem seems to be distribution (and owners taking advantage of the situation by jacking up their prices).
I am a little frustrated, since I will need gas within the next day or two. Today, I have only seen one station that was open (and the lines were stretching out onto the main arteries for almost half a mile and I was not in a position to be able to get in line). People are waiting in line 30-60 minutes to get gas, when they even find a station that has any. There are also people getting into fights at the stations.
quote: Parrish said he usually sells 1,000 gallons a day but had gone through that much by 8 a.m. Sunday. Suppliers are delivering gas sporadically, providing half the normal amount, he said.
It seems to me people are freaking and stations aren't getting their normal deliveries. A disaster waiting to happen.
And can I just say that these people need to figure out where reality is and try living there?
quote: The trend of climbing gas prices is going to continue, with increases of as much as 4 or 5 cents a day, López said.
"We hope the increases won't be as steep once the pipeline is repaired, but it's difficult to predict," she said. "Prices are going up around the country, not just in Arizona."
Sheesh. Don't you wonder sometimes how the "spokesperson" can keep a straight face while telling such lies? Yeah, our gas (in Kansas) has gone up 10 cents in the last month. I'll let you know if it goes up more. How much has yours gone up?
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Whew, I thought this thread was about Tex-Mex food!
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
A couple weeks ago I purchased 87 unleaded at $1.699. This past weekend it was $1.979.
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
(basking in the glow of a new monitor)
Yeah, I figured that it wasn't just the pipeline that was causing the spike. I'm not sure about Prescott (I can check tomorrow when I get into work @ 4am - prices don't change that early here). I tried to call into work, but I can't get ahold of anyone that would look it up for me.
I know that the stations that we were peeking in on today were showing some rising prices. Somewhere in Denver, gas went up 20 cents a gallon this morning.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
That's so funny because I think gas prices are still okay in Tucson. A few cents higher but not much. But if anyone can be blamed it would be us... Ah well. C'est la vie. (I haven't been out since yesterday tho.)
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
That's what I think makes the whole thing a little fishy. We were in Tucson on Saturday (for the little Hatrack lunch) and prices (and supply) were fine there (and in the cities we drove past on our way back. It was only once you got into the Phoenix metro area where there are problems.....