Far from Ike's path, an aftershock is felt: $5 gas

[Nambe]

Source:

HOUSTON - From Florida to Tennessee, and all the way up to Connecticut, people far from Hurricane Ike's destruction nonetheless felt one of its tell-tale aftershocks: gasoline prices that surged overnight — to nearly $5 a gallon in some places. ...

... Late Saturday the U.S. Minerals Management Service said there were two confirmed reports of drilling rigs adrift in the central Gulf of Mexico. ...

... n Florida, the attorney general's office reported prices as high as $5.50 a gallon in Tallahassee and said it had received 186 gouging complaints.

Gov. Charles Crist said on Friday that $5 a gallon "can only be described as unconscionable" and added: "Raising rates to exorbitant levels like this only causes unnecessary panic and fear. This type of behavior will not be tolerated." ...

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080914/ap_on_bi_ge/ike_energy;_ylt=AqA64InABYh7h0oAI37FSoms0NUE

[thecrow]

1. My son tels me that in Daytona Beach gas purchases

are limited to ten gallons, though I don't know what would preclude someone from stopping at two different stations.

[POAS]

2. That is most likely

so the station can keep a supply till the next delivery and has nothing to do with the individual purchaser.

[DrDan]

3. might be an isolated case

I live in the Daytona Beach area - filled up my vehicles yesterday and a gas can as well.

No long lines, no rise in prices, no limit.

[Zombie2]

5. Louisville Kentucky was in meltdown mode yesterday as well.

Fuel prices shot up $0.60 to $0.70 overnight. Very long line... limits on how much you could get... many stations simply ran out of gas and closed their doors. Several were still closed today.

It's time to kick this oil addiction, for good.

[CRF450]

16. Its like that in many places, I saw the same thing at a few stations too.

I managed to get gas for $3.69 friday while other stations close by went up into the 3.80's and 3.90's. To my dismay, nobody was stopping at the station I bought that tank of gas at lol, they were at the ones that really jump up. But I'll have to get gas again probably tomorrow.

[Gillian]

4. It´s nice in Mexico, we know which crooks are fixing the prices.

I think it´s about $2.50us a gallon. We don´t drive much and our little car gets 50 mpg.

[anniebelle]

6. Our stations are SOLD OUT here in my community.

We had to go out Friday and noticed long lines at the pumps in Chattanooga and when we drove back up the mountain (Signal Mountain), all our stations were out of gas. It may be a while before they get the refineries up and running. Maybe this will be a moment of awakening about our dependence on ONE SOURCE of energy in this country. Nah, I doubt it.

[Papagoose]

7. We hit $5 last night in NW Georgia

Not that it matters, all, and I mean all, of the stations in my town are sold out of all grades of gas.

[radfringe]

8. remember this quote when we are paying through the nose at the gas pump:

remember this quote when we are paying through the nose at the gas pump:

In an energy speech recently, McCain said that: "As for offshore drilling, it's safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston."

The hurricanes totally destroyed 113 oil rigs, according to the government's Minerals Management Service, and damaged 457 pipelines. The resulting oil spills were large enough to be seen from space, according to several reports. - Washington Post http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/23/mccain_and_the_safety_of_offsh.html

[Psephos]

17. Gasoline price is affected by damage to the refineries, not the drilling rigs

Meanwhile, it looks like Ike damaged about ten rigs, out of 3800. The rigs have automatic cut-off valves on the ocean floor, which prevent oil from leaking from the well bore if the rig downpipes are severed.

Rigzone.com is a useful site for information on the offshore drilling industry.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=66633

[Lithos]

18. Not quite true

Your statement is correct except there is a bit more.

The infrastructure is affected by damage to the refineries. Prices, however, are not only affected by fundamentals such as the infrastructure, but by anxiety and greed. What we are seeing here is due to the latter, not to any real change in fundamentals.

L-

[kayell]

9. And a lesson we should have learned the first time "It's the ECONOMY, stupid"

Repeat it again and again and again to any one you see out at the pumps. "Gosh, everythings gone up so fast these last 8 years. Except for my paycheck. How's yours?" or similar. And "I wonder if Republicans really are good for the economy?"

What does everyone care about? Whether they can keep affording their way of life. Simple.

[fasttense]

10. Monopolies can easily rig the price of the commodity they sell.

Any little excuse and the price goes up. They throttle the supply in order to increase the price (this is why bush has not released the oil reserves). The five oil monopolies are swimming in money. What are the American people swimming in?

[Lost River Ledger]

11. Shocked I tell you, I'm Shocked!

NOT!

[TommyO]

12. Didn't I see a clip where * said he would be keeping an eye on gouging?

I guess what he meant was that he would make sure it happened.

[babydollhead]

13. Pittsburgh still at $3.59 a gallon

[nerddem]

14. i don't know what things are like back home in philly,

but in toronto, gas went up from 1.25ish to 1.48ish a liter over the weekend

[kestrel91316]

15. This is the part where I'm actually happy to live in SoCal. We have

our own refineries, and TX oil problems like this will not impact us (unless somebody LIES in order to gouge).

[ticked]

19. We haven't been affected

well not yet anyway, up here in CT. No shortages and no price hikes :shrug: