East coast gas shortage

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

is this also from that episode?

Never saw the show, but that could explain the confusion after seeing this one.

I laugh now, but the vehicle with the 44 gallon tank I'm picking up next week will probably make this not funny anymore.

New York Nick said:

Donebrokeit said:

In reply to John Welsh :

What are the contents of the different lines?

Gasoline 

Diesel 

Heating oil?

Liquid lines generally carry a variety of liquid fuels (jet fuel, diesel, gas) and they send them in slugs. The liquids are moved slow enough so they are not turbulent so they don't mix. When it passes a terminal the operator looks at the specific gravity of the material and then pulls off the required product into their tank farms.

To add to this...I have a file on my computer of a pipeline product mix for one Colonial terminal we use to pull diesel fuel off of.  IIRC there's something like 50 different products that flow through on that one pipeline, everything from diesel to jet fuel.  It's amazing the logistics of it all. 

Cyber crime  might as well be legal. There is no enforcement and a financial/currency  infrastructure has been created just for the needs of cyber criminals.  Ironic when you think back to how harsh mail fraud penalties were at one time in order to protect against what is essentially the same crimes.

As long as the victims reside outside of your home country, there are no repercussions. 

In reply to RevRico :

I don't think so, but given that it's in the same group with an image lifted from a comedy show I sure wouldn't assume it's from this year either.  I remember LeMons teams showing up with those things full of fuel, not sure if that's allowed any more.

Still stupid here in Atlanta. I refuse to fuel up this week and feed into the frenzy. I commute 50 miles each day and have half a tank left in the Fiat Spider. This morning I chugged along at 50-55 and averaged 40.5 mpg. I think I'll make it through the week, otherwise I'll have to start siphoning the El Camino, hot rod, lawnmower... Or just take my motorcycle. Normally I'd WFH but this week is too busy in the lab.

Agree with the stupid news causing this. Literal self-fulfilling prophecy. We are, what, 5 days into a 21 day reserve? If everyone just acted normal, we'd be fine...

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Nothing shows up on tineye for that particular picture. 

For as much as I've been screamed at for not using standard red containers for gasoline I can't imagine actually filling one of those up to take to a race and driving it down the road. I feel like that's a giant "pull me over" sign, not to mention the non static weight sloshing around on the under sized trailer (in this particular case). 

Looks like my timing is perfect.  What better car to survive the gas shortage than a car from the 70s gas shortage.  Everything is coming up Logdog!  This baby just shot up in value! 

Drove by the local gas station, the line was pretty long and fairly disorganized:


This guy out front looked to be directing traffic, or at least in charge:



 

RevRico said:

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Nothing shows up on tineye for that particular picture. 

For as much as I've been screamed at for not using standard red containers for gasoline I can't imagine actually filling one of those up to take to a race and driving it down the road. I feel like that's a giant "pull me over" sign, not to mention the non static weight sloshing around on the under sized trailer (in this particular case). 

Just tell the officer it's full of urine. 

Yours.  From the past year. 

In reply to slefain :

Was looking for images of this to post.  Thanks. 

Central PA doesn't seem to be affected yet.... which is odd.  We have a large percentage of Karens.

Gas stations look normal.  The only person I saw filling gas cans was a landscaping company and they only had two cans.

NOHOME said:

Cyber crime  might as well be legal. There is no enforcement and a financial/currency  infrastructure has been created just for the needs of cyber criminals.  Ironic when you think back to how harsh mail fraud penalties were at one time in order to protect against what is essentially the same crimes.

As long as the victims reside outside of your home country, there are no repercussions. 

This may be the only time I've wished Big Oil was as powerful as it was in conspiracy theories.

"Here, Pavel. Wait with these guys while we figure out what we'll do with you."

"What did they do?"

"Invented the 200 mpg carburetor."

I honestly didn't really think much about a gas shortage until I saw this thread.  I had heard about the pipeline hack, but otherwise haven't paid too much attention to the news. 

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

I honestly didn't really think much about a gas shortage until I saw this thread.

That's because there isn't actually a gas shortage.  Unfortunately there's no shortage of frightened idiots, either.

Duke said:

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

I honestly didn't really think much about a gas shortage until I saw this thread.

That's because there isn't actually a gas shortage.  Unfortunately there's no shortage of frightened idiots, either.

 

Define "shortage."

The Colonial Pipeline is currently inoperative.  The Colonial Pipeline supplies something like 45% of the petroleum products sold on the U.S. east coast.  Many if not most gas stations in this area are out of gas.  How is that not a shortage?  Would you prefer to call it a "supply disruption?"

Semantics.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

0.  Create supply disruption

1. Profit.

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

The reason most of those stations are out of gas is panic overbuying.

This pipeline has shut down multiple times for various reasons.  It will shut down again.  But those shutdowns weren't in the news.

The gas exists and it is in this country.  Right now, yes, there is a distribution disruption (not a supply disruption).  There are other means of getting fuel where it needs to be, including at least one other pipeline almost identical to (and parallel to) the Colonial.

Its TP all over again you mean?

1988RedT2 said:

Duke said:

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

I honestly didn't really think much about a gas shortage until I saw this thread.

That's because there isn't actually a gas shortage.  Unfortunately there's no shortage of frightened idiots, either.

 

Define "shortage."

The Colonial Pipeline is currently inoperative.  The Colonial Pipeline supplies something like 45% of the petroleum products sold on the U.S. east coast.  Many if not most gas stations in this area are out of gas.  How is that not a shortage?  Would you prefer to call it a "supply disruption?"

Semantics.

It's not a shortage because the pipeline being down is not what's causing the stations to be out of fuel.  Panic buying is.  The fuel currently being delivered to stations came through the pipeline a couple weeks ago.  There is a large delay from pipeline --> central distributor --> local distributor --> service station.

The shortages are because Bob's gas station on the corner normally needs 1 truck/week to handle the demand.  Demand tripled due to panic buying, but his next scheduled delivery isn't until next week, and he's yelling at the distributor to send him an extra tanker.  Repeat x10,000 for the whole East Coast.  The fuel is there to send, but the tanker truck delivery logistics may not be.  We don't keep a 300% reserve capacity of delivery trucks and drivers available to take up the slack.

In reply to Duke :

That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that I can't buy gas. 

I drive a lot for work. Usually 1000 miles per week. This week at least 1500. 
 

Middle GA and ATL are nearly shut down. 
 

Some stations are rationing purchases- limit $25. At $3.44 per gallon, that's about 7.25 gallons. 
 

I have a 35 gallon tank, and need 3 tanks full to get me through the week. That means between now and Friday I may have to find open stations 14 different times. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

Can you rent a car that gets better than 13mpg for the week?

Of course there is a gas shortage. Don't be ridiculous. Just because the cause was panic buying doesn't change the fact that there is a shortage of fuel. 

I don't deny that panic buying is taking place, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if 45% of the supply is removed, it doesn't take long for demand to overtake supply.

We can blame the problem on people trying to minimize the negative effects on their lives, or we can blame the criminals that actually carried out the attack, or we can blame the industry for running their essential systems on a few outdated computers they bought at the Goodwill store.  Of these three, I'd blame the "panic buyers" the least.

I have roughly 375 miles of gas in the Prius and 100 in the Miata. Maybe more if I soft foot and short shift. My plan is to drive as little as possible until this panic stupidity sorts itself out. I can wfh so it's easy for me to make this work for a few weeks