TULSA, Okla. -- QuikTrip Corp., Tulsa's largest gasoline retailer, was selling fuel Tuesday at all but a handful of its area stores, reported The Tulsa World. The convenience store chain had lost power to about 30 stores on Monday because of the severe ice storm that hit the region. Stores that did not have power by nightfall Monday were closed as a safety precaution for employees and customers.
QuikTrip had placed all but six stores on generators by Tuesday morning. The first of about 20 generators arrived Monday from markets in Dallas, St. Louis and [image-nocss] Kansas City, company spokesperson Mike Thornbrugh told the newspaper. He said that additional stores would become fully operational throughout the day as more generators were installed and the public utility returned power to areas of the city.
Stores without power were unable to sell fuel; however, they were able to conduct cash-only transactions for merchandise, the report said.
"We will take care of everyone's needs and wants," Thornbrugh said.
He added that supplies are strong and the company is not experiencing any fuel or food shortages. "Supply wise we are fine," he said.
West Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go LC also reported that about a dozen of its 25 stores in the Tulsa market could not sell fuel or take credit cards. Kum & Go also did not report any fuel shortages. But outages at some Kum & Go and QuikTrip stations did create long lines at others, said the report.
QuikTrip, which operates 55 Tulsa-area c-stores, said that it would bring fuel from other markets if it becomes necessary. The chain has 479 stores in nine states.
And although average gasoline prices fell below $3 a gallon Tuesday, oil increased to $90 as the ice storm paralyzed three big Midwestern pipelines feeding a key U.S. crude storage hub and fog delayed shipping along the Texas coast, said Reuters.
The storm brought operations at the Cushing, Okla., storage huba delivery point for U.S. crude futuresto a near standstill and threatened supplies to the region's refineries. The storm knocked out power to more than 800,000 customers and forced Enbridge Inc. and TEPPCO Partners LP to shut more than 20 million barrels of oil terminal storage. Several pipelines, including the 350,000 barrel-per-day Seaway pipeline from the Gulf Coast, also reduced or halted throughput. And fog along the Texas coast delayed more than 60 vessels from entering the nation's biggest petrochemical ports. Officials said some traffic resumed early Tuesday, but they added that the fog could return later in the day.
Magellan Midstream Partners LP reported that its fuel terminals in Oklahoma City and Tulsa were also down as a result of the storm. Bruce Heine, a spokesperson for the Tulsa-based energy company, told the Tulsa World that power losses have shuttered the terminals, which provide "significant" amounts of fuel to the Oklahoma market. "Our ability to load trucks that take fuel to local service stations is temporarily out," he said.
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