Where I live in the Southeast, gas has risen considerably since Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston, Texas.
I first noticed the increase in gas prices on Monday, September 15, 2008; That was two days after the impact of Ike on the U.S. The most outlandish price I've seen so far was $4.10 per gallon for Unleaded at a Texaco station. The lowest price I've seen in my area is $3.86 per gallon for Unleaded gas.
The kicker:
The most amazing aspect of the gas game is that all the Shell gas stations I've seen recently are not selling gasoline; The convenience stores that accompanies them are open for business; Yet, the pumps are out of order. From what I've gathered from the news media: there are no shortages in the Southeast at present. How do these Shell Gas Stations manage to act as if they're out of gas? That's probably a good question for the Shell Answer Man.
I suppose that with their international clout, and their gargantuan profits they can afford to bluff a shortage. What I see is an attempt by Shell Oil distributors to withhold their supply and sell it when they can get the price they desire. When Hurricane Ike approached the U.S., and as the week-end arrived many motorists rushed to fill up on gasoline. Let me point out that Shell gasoline is "diluted" with 10% Ethanol in my vicinity. If I'm not mistaken, here in America Ethanol is processed from corn; So far, there aren't any justifiable reasons for the Ethanol production activities to be affected by weather, or any other factor. So, where's the GAS? Where's Jeb?
The state of Florida has experienced a high incidence of gasoline price gouging after Hurricane Ike. The state Attorney General Bill McCollum called for citizens who suspected gas stations of charging ridiculous prices to call a hot line and report the abuse. By late Tuesday afternoon, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said his office had received more than 5500 complaints of price gouging statewide, ...1
Price gouging during a state of emergency is a practice that is punishable by law in Florida. I wonder if the so-called 'crack-down' on price gouging has anything to do with Shell gas stations "holding-out"? What else could have happened to cause this shortage? Did Shell run out of corn for their Ethanol formula all of the sudden? What I see is a shell game being played by the Shell Gasoline Distributors. But, they're not the only ones playing games; The whole oil industry has been playing games since OPEC was founded, as far as I'm concerned. Was it the 14 refineries that were shut down before Ike arrived? Or, was it the Oil drilling rigs that were evacuated that have caused this 'shortage'? Meanwhile, crude oil is selling at $91.42 a barrel.
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Arsenio.
1http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2008/09/15/daily22.html