Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

Lefty i don't mean to be rude, but your wrong. The reason for the rising gas prices is a panic caused by the IDEA that we could run low on oil/gas, the chances of this happening are slim to none. First we have released all state standards allowing the free flow of fuel from state to state. Second, the price of crude has dropped yet again today meaning there is plenty to go around. Finally, these oil companies are in the business of MAKING MONEY, if they are at 25% last night they WILL be at 100% by this weekend. My family has worked for Energy companies for years, I have heard from reliable sources that there is plenty and it is nothing more than a media panic.

storm -- I'm hoping to be able to look at the data and see if I can't come up with a formula that describes the data. Yup, I'm a hard core geek....

we have lost 40percent of our refining compacity. thats from your article. so tell me whats the use of a pipeline when we have no fuel being refined. the pipeline only cause the shortterm problems. the refineries are goingto cause the longterm. some refineries will not be reopened for some time. so tell me what losing 40 percent of our refining compacity means.

Did you know that the officials refused help from the German Red Cross?
They offered that they could come, fly their equipment within 24h in, set up tents and infrastructure for 10.000s of people and get flood and leeve experts (the German/Dutch North Sea Coast is a complet dyke ring, they know how to fix these things.)

and they are too proud to take any help from outside. I can not understand this.
My heart goes out to all these people who are suffering out there, many nations tried to get you more help, but they were sent home by your officials in Washington.
I still keep on praying for a miracle.

Lefty, don't you realize that the shortages are just caused by really dumb gas station operators who are hearing rumors that there are shortages, and so they are closing their stations because they assume the rumours are true. The existence of oil wells in Mobile bay and refineries in the area is just a rumor as well. I have not seen one SOURCE on here that proves their existence, so obviously they weren't there to be damaged. (I hope my sarcasm is more evident to you this afternoon :) )


The reports on station outtages are everywhere, gator. Outages will probably be spotty, and more to do with temporary delays, not a nationwide run on gasoline. The problem is, most of these are anecdotal, and probably temporary. Of course we won't "run out" anytime soon. But, that's just a red herring. "Running out" of gas has nothing to do with the economic disruption that a REDUCED supply and delivery system can cause.

as this AP article says--Out of Gas" signs and yellow caution tape were draped across pumps in parts of the United States early Thursday after many retailers were overrun by panicked motorists looking to top off their tanks as prices soared past $3 per gallon and reports of shortages spread.

Gas stations in and around downtown Atlanta had temporarily run out of gas. The same was reported elsewhere, including parts of North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Arizona. Many retailers who did have gas had no clue when their next shipments would come in.

"People have kind of panicked and they're waiting in long lines because they're afraid the prices are going to go up," said Jan Vineyard, executive director of the West Virginia Oil Marketers And Grocers Association. "We're going to have some outages."

Price hikes were first evident at stations nationwide Wednesday as gasoline costs breached $3 a gallon for the first time in numerous states, the result of fuel pipeline shutdowns and delayed deliveries since Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi earlier this week.

kirsy i feel ya. i was shockedto hear that bush is going to tour no and the affected areas tomm. i am like what the hell. i am just shocked at the whole situation. turn on cnn right now. it is sad and i am angry over the whole no situation

iyou,

Lived on the street for almost a year, it was winter and I got sick (double pneumonia, althought I didn't know it). It was a ice/snow storm I knew I needed someplace to hold up being a Tuesday I broke into a chruch fiquring that no one would be their until that Sunday and I planned on being long gone by then.

Last thing I remenber was coughing up blood, I woke up a week later in the hostpial the preacher of the chruch told me what happened (I was admitted as a John Doe since I had no ID on me, I refused to give my name). He found me close to death Wedesnday eveing, I flatlined twice and cracked 4 ribs (from coughing) before they stablized me..

I worked for him as a groundkeeper in return for him saving me and paying the hostipal bill for a few months staying with one of the families that went to the chruch. By then I knew no matter how bad my life was their will always be worse.

That why I offer to buy food to any person on the street, if they refuse and want money. I refuse since I will not support someone's drug/achool habit.

and gas stations done't determoine prices. the whole saler does. gas futuers closed at near 3.00 yesterday. that means atleast 3.40 nationwide by next week at best

orion godbless you man. i am glad yourose above your struggles

Kirsy71,

Stupid America macho cowboy pride.. I love my country but I seriously wonder about those in power love it or they just in it for the money/power.

so gator, tellme about the refineries man. 40 percent of gas refining is down. refineries are flooded. somehave alot of damage and others have no power or employess. the refining will be the biggest hit we will see. they can release all the crude they want. we can't refine it

Those are the best damn dyke builders in the world what in the hell is our Govt doing.

Leftyy420,

Thank you, that why I had all these "crybabies" that are blaming thier actions or thier life on other things. Get used to it Life owes you one thing Death. Your Past should be a tool in which to shape your future not a crutch to limp around with. A good example in recent news, a couple of families sued Rockstar for thier game Grand Theft Auto, because thier kids went on a shooting spree/high speed cop chase because they thought it would be cool to act out the game.

omg, people are just dieing on the streets in no. there is no law and ordr. where is the army, where is the national gaurd. where is red cross. where is fema. i am beyond angry now. our govt from fed to local govt is a joke.

does the military have their own refineries are do they use these refineries to keep the war machine rolling.

exactly man.i have been up i have been down. but one thing is tomm willcomewith or with out you. your a good man

i do not belive that the army has their own refineries.

Most the refineries will be up in a month, from what I've heard one Gulf refineries suffered minimal damage.

iam just sick of the things in no. there is no food or water or ice. where is fema and the redcross. omg this is a joke

This whole situation is crazy. I have no ide how we are going to get our Govt back in control. It took Bush two days before he from his vacation after Katrina.

West Palm resident here, in reference to Dr. Masters gfs forcast for a large system to possibly affect the Leewards next week, any later guidence in reference to South Flordia?

3 are under water, 2-3 suffered major damage and not sure bout the rest. this is what i heard on cnn yesterday. and a month or 2 with a loss of 40 percent of refining compacity is huge. we will be paying 4.00 easily

I can't access live feed, but other than waveland & BSL, are there images/reports out of Pass & LongBeach yet?
I heard they were to start air dropping supplies today, any confirmation?

Reuters just said that gas (oil?) is now trading over $100 / barrel...! Is that accurate???

progressive. the sunday -mondayformation may not even happen. right now the guidance is sketchy and relies on the formation where it happenes. now the storm of greatest concern right now is headed west toward the leeward isalnds. some guidnce carries it wnw some continue it west. its to far out but it looks to be a threat to the us based on the building high and the low lattitude. all of this is to early. just keep watching is all we can do right now

Way to far out to be accurate Progressive. But it appears to be either W or WNW.

We have a small trucking company with trucks operating in the south. As of yesterday many stations are limiting us to 50 to 100 gallons of fuel. Our trucks can take 250 to 300 gallons to fill. One driver watched as the station raised their price 30 cents in NC last night. Here are some sites dealing with fuel prices. The first 3 are for national chain truckstops. The last one is the Dept. of Energy

http://www.petrotruckstops.com/news_detail.sstg?id=126&PHPSESSID=f98f6a54304e3f2e8dd512c02593eaa9
http://www.flyingj.com/fuel/diesel_CF.cfm
http://www.tatravelcenters.com/ta/display_page.phtml?page_id=815
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp

While I don't think hoarding is the answer, much of the country has no idea how Katrina is going to effect the US economy.

StormJunkie,

Nope, they take from the same supply we do. However they have reserves on hand (ie SOP aka Standard Operating Proceedure is to have 3 months supply of everything in case the enemy cuts you off) not to mention first dibs at the national oil reserve. Which is almost maxed out thanks to Bush hording it but it will not last for long since on average we use 20 million barrels a day. Do the math (ie 900 million barrels at 20 million a day = 45 days)

I'm not saying we won't be paying 3.99 for gas, we more than likely will with the market heading the way it is. But mos the pricing is based on a panic situation.

Thanks lefty, the second you mentioned was the one I was referring to around 10W, eyes are always watching this time of year.

Any concept of being able to "control" these looters and such is not taking into account that a good number of them are probably druggies that have been cut off from their supply. I too have lived in shall we say, less than ideal circumstances, and I have seen what happens when you cut off the supply. It's not pretty and you cannot reason with people in that state.

rain i don't think so. iwill check though


all i have heard and seen is pass and longbeach was flattened. i hear relief was moving in sice they cleared the rodes. i will keepan eye out for those areas though

Thanks Orion very good info. That was a tough road you traveled. Glad you pulled through.

start dropping food from C-130's...what, we can do it in other countries, but not for our own people?????????

Another quote from Reuters...

"... Europe was unnerved by how ill-prepared the world's biggest economy was for Hurricane Katrina's rampage."

No kidding! The concept that New Olreans is a "SCENE OF ANARCHY" (CNN) is just beyond belief. Obviously, the government has lost control of the situation. I certainly hope accountability for this goes straight to the top.

Don't think so, markets havent responded, but Reuters said this: By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government warned on Thursday that some U.S. refineries shut by Hurricane Katrina may not resume processing oil for several months and a consumer group said such market conditions justified gasoline at $3 a gallon.

"Some refineries likely (will be) able to restart their operations within the next 1 to 2 weeks, while others will likely be down for a more extended period, possibly several months," the Energy Information Administration said.

The Energy Department's analytical arm said nine major oil refineries in Louisiana and Mississippi remained shut from the hurricane. Those refineries account for about 11 percent of total U.S. refining capacity.

What is really scary is you have supposely 40 - 60K people at the Superdrome in rapidly deterioting conditions, 90 plus degree weather. How soon until things go really south and you have a full scale riot. I don't care how heavily armed you are sooner or later your going to run out of ammo

Lefty... Here's the quote from Reuters... Is this refined gasoline they're talking about?

LONDON (Reuters) - Gasoline rode high at over $100 a barrel on Thursday as the United States scrambled to replace fuel supplies lost when Hurricane Katrina slammed into Gulf of Mexico rigs and refiners.

yeahj progrewssive. i think it might be more of a east coast threat but its to far out. maybe i just want to keep it out of the gulf. i will def be watching it and if u check back here will update u as needed

Good point Ellis. Maybe we should start dropping some big fat joints in and let get all smoked up and relaxed and then try to gain control.

Hey guys. Hope you are all ok.


To break from the current discussion. Anyone happen to look at the satellite picture of Typhoon Nabi on the main tropics page here. Super doughnut.

rain give me a linkto that. i saw crude trading at 69.00 or just under it as of 1.00PM EST

I can say that in our dealings with the Red Cross, FEMA, & MEMA, we are getting NOWHERE. When you finally get someone to answer (when you aren't kicked off the line due to your area code not being directly affected) you are re-routed ten times over, and chase your tail.

It makes me want to spit to not see water & other supplies dropped in sooner. Then the FEMA director says to 'be patient'. He should tell that to the families that their loved ones made it thru the storm, but then perished due to having no food or water. *Sigh*.....

wow carbo. that thing looks like a monster

Carbo - perfect eye - just like K. ...

lefty - Ha! I just went back to the link and obviously somebody screwed up... Almost the same wording - except the $100 has been changed to $69. Here's the link now...

Link

san antonio now said we can hold some refugees. we needto see more states step up

Off to work. See ya'll soon though.

Thoughts and Prayers for NO.

lol yeah raindance. 100 a barrel would be atleast 6-8 agallon for gas

I still can not believe that we turned the master dyke builders away. That one really has me pissed off.

Alright really off to work.