http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atlstorm18/projectedpath_large.html?from=wxcenter_mapsBATON ROUGE, La. -- A week ago, Jim Bickley, president of the Baton Rouge, La.-based Cracker Barrel convenience store chain, was breathing a sigh of relief as life began to get a little bit normal following Hurricane Katrina's battering of the Gulf Coast. Yesterday, he was holding his breath again as he prepared for the worst from Hurricane Rita, which was heading toward the [image-nocss] Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico.
We're making sure we know where our plywood is and where our electricians are and all of our emergency guys that come out to help us board up stores if we have to, Bickley told CSP Daily News. Weather reports noted yesterday afternoon that the then-Category 2 storm was likely to come to shore southwest of Houston; however, damage to the shipping lane and refineries in that area could mean more gasoline supply headaches for retailers.
Just when you thought you could start making money again on gasoline, something like this comes up, said Bickley.
Crude-oil futures rose above $67 a barrel Monday, in part because of worries about Rita, according to a CBS News report. About 56% of the Gulf's oil production was already out of operation Monday because of Katrina's damage, the federal Minerals Management Service said.
If it hits the Houston area and damages a whole new set of refineries and shipping and infrastructure, we'd probably see a return to $3 gasoline, AAA spokesperson Geoff Sundstrom told USA Today.
Chevron and Shell began evacuating employees from offshore oil- and gas-drilling platforms. Other companies were watching the storm's track, but had not yet begun evacuations, according to CBS. These storms are pretty big and broad sometimes, so you take no chances, said Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver.
In Florida, where Rita passed just south of the Keys yesterday, motorists lined up for gasoline as the storm threatened, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Despite reports that gasoline supplies would likely be fine in the area, some motorists raced to gas stations Monday to top off their tanks. A newspaper survey of 76 south Florida stations revealed scattered outages and long lines on Monday as residents prepared for the arrival of yet another storm.
It's crazy. You can't get in the parking lot, Matt Slick, station manager of a Shell station in Miami, told the Herald. It started [Sunday] night. We were busy until 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. Usually, it dies down around 11:00 p.m. on Sunday.
All told, five of 76 stations surveyed said pumps were dry. Meanwhile, 20 of the 76 stations reported that business was brisker than usual on Monday.
A leading industry official tried to allay fears about a looming gasoline shortage, saying that ample supplies were stocked throughout the state and only excessive consumption would dry up pumps. We shouldn't have a supply problem, unless everyone panics again, Jim Smith, president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, told the newspaper.
But not all industry officials were so sanguine. Dave Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, worried that Rita could hit a part of the Gulf Coast's energy-producing region that was left unscathed by Hurricane Katrina. Such a hit could impede gasoline refineries and oil rigs from working smoothly even as operations shuttered by Katrina are recovering. We really don't need it where we are trying to get operations back, and we don't need it farther west, Mica told the Herald. Our eyes are on it. We are concerned.
Rita is expected to run ashore late this week. Click here to see the projected path at presstime.
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