Staff Writer
You'll get the same answer from gas station owners to AAA: Ike is the spike in your gas prices.
How long those prices stay up, officials say, will depend on the storm's impact on the Texas refineries expecting to be battered early today.
"There is as much potential for those prices to fall back down after we get the damage figured out," said Gregg Laskoski, spokesman for AAA South. "If it is the best case scenario where the refiners can get things started back up quickly, we don't think it is going to be too much of a problem."
Calls of price gouging from consumers poured into state agencies.
Maria Audas, spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, said hundreds of calls came in just as the attorney general invoked the state's gas gouging law.
Georgia Consumer Affairs Office spokesman Bill Cloud said gas gouging statutes kick in only when a state of emergency is declared, which didn't happen until late Friday.
"Not to say people can't charge more, but they have to be paying more for it, that includes what's in the ground. Can't raise the price because the new stuff is going to cost you more in three days," he said.
"Our members can justify what happened last night and today," said Michael Fields, the executive director of the South Carolina Petroleum Markets Association. "They can show on their pricing sheet how much it cost them.
"My members are one step above the consumer," he said. "We have to pay those kind of increases just to get the product. A lot of folks don't understand that. They are certainly feeling the pain."
Part of the gasoline shortage was a self-fulfilling prophecy where the news of the shortage created a run on stations and a depletion of supply, he said.
Part two of the shortage is real, Mr. Fields said, because the Southeast is supplied from the Gulf Coast, which is shut down now and might take a few days to re-start once Hurricane Ike has passed.
"We're at the mercy of the market," said Andy Klein, the director of legal affairs for The Pantry Inc., which runs the Kangaroo stations in Augusta.
Some shortages were reported in the metro area and lines of customers formed at other stations, some requiring police monitoring.
Mr. Laskoski said distributors in the region should be able to get supply from other areas of the country.
Reach Tim Rausch at (706) 823-3352 or timothy.rausch@augustachronicle.com.
PRICE GOUGING
Speak to local law enforcement if gas price gouging is suspected. Consumers can also call their state's consumer affairs departments:
GEORGIA: (800) 869-1123
SOUTH CAROLINA: (803) 734-4200 or www.scconsumer.gov
MIXED PRICES
NEW YORK --- Gasoline prices jumped at the wholesale level Friday as Hurricane Ike swept through the Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.
Crude oil on the futures market, however, briefly sank below the psychologically important $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since April 2 -- showing that investors believe a worsening global economy will continue to drive down demand.
-- Associated Press
