CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A national gasoline expert tweeted Wednesday afternoon that 4% of gas stations in West Virginia were without gasoline in connection with the skyrocketing demand that began after the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline following a May 7 cyber attack.
Patrick De Haan of gasbuddy.com listed West Virginia under his ‘newly added’ category. Almost every other state has a higher percent of stations without gas. North Carolina leads the way at 65% with Virginia at 44%.
Gasoline Outages by state, percent of all stations without gasoline:
AL 7%
WASH DC 10%
FL 11%
GA 43%
KY 2%
MD 11%
MS 5%
NC 65%
SC 43%
TN 16%
VA 44%
WV 4%— Patrick De Haan ⛽️? (@GasBuddyGuy) May 12, 2021
Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday there’s no gasoline shortage in West Virginia.
“The best advice that I can possibly give you is to just stay calm,” Justice said. “The bulk of our gasoline that comes into the state of West Virginia does not come from the Colonial Pipeline.”
It comes from the Plantation Pipeline that is operating normally.
West Virginia Oil, Marketers, and Grocers Association (OMEGA) President Traci Nelson said Wednesday it’s a transportation and demand issue facing West Virginia not a supply issue.
“Petroleum companies are going to pick up the fuel and they are having to wait in long lines to pick it up. It’s taken them longer to get back to the stations,” Nelson said.
Justice said at his request West Virginia has been added to the amended regional emergency declaration by the federal Motor Carrier Safety Association, which he said would allow easier transportation of fuel to the affected areas.
Justice said it’s panic that caused gas stations to run out of gas.
“Right now we are creating our shortages. There is no real shortage of fuel right now in West Virginia,” Justice said.
Nelson agreed.
“Consumers are creating these outages right now because they’re going in and filling up gas cans and their cars when they really don’t need it,” she said.
Traci Nelson, President of the https://t.co/rn6maOBVPd. Oil Marketers & Grocers Association, talks with @HoppyKercheval about if there are any gas shortages in West Virginia because of pipeline interruption. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/UPFz5I5iJT
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) May 12, 2021
Gov. Justice said he’s seen photos of a someone getting gas in Barboursville who had a flat-bed trailer filled with what looked like liquid fertilizer crates that were being filled up with gas.
Nelson said the increase in demand is also driving up prices.
“Prices are going to go up because demand is so high,” she said.
An announcement is expected soon on when the Colonial Pipeline will be turned back on. Nelson predicted that would help.
“Once that starts I think things will start turning around pretty quickly but as long as consumers are going out hoarding gas that they don’t need yet, yea, this problem is going to continue as it is or get worse,” she said.
Colonial Pipeline announced Wednesday evening the restart of pipeline operations, noting it will take several days for the delivery supply chain to return to normal.