A fuel industry analyst said a breakdown at an Alberta oil refinery could mean the backlog of a million litres of gasoline unable to “get to where it needs to go.”

Dan McTeague, a senior analyst with gasbuddy.com, said if Shell Canada is attributing gasoline shortages to “unexpected maintenance” at the Scotford refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., that is an indication empty Winnipeg stations are not just a temporary problem.

“Is it a symptom of a much larger problem? My sense is that we’ve painted ourselves into a corner,” McTeague said. “We don’t have enough refinery capacity in Canada and when the problem does happen, either in Canada or the United States, prices tend to be the first victim.”

A handful of Winnipeg Shell stations had their price boards reading zeroes with covers over their pumps starting Tuesday. Additionally, a Husky station on Pembina Highway was also without gas. Requests for comment to Husky were not returned.

McTeague said Shell has changed its tune in a matter of weeks. In July, the company said a shortage that lead to 22 of 32 Edmonton Shell stations running out of fuel was due to high demand and tight supply.

Now, however, Shell is attributing Winnipeg’s shortage to an inability to make fuel at Scotford.

“Now that the maintenance work is complete, we’re continuing our focus on refilling stations that have run out of gasoline,” Shell spokesman Cameron Yost said. “By virtue of their location, those sites closest to the refinery have been recovering the quickest. Winnipeg is farther from the facility so a handful of stations in the city are seeing gasoline run outs as we work to get fuel out there.”

McTeague said energy prices and shortages should be a major topic during the federal election but, for now, they “aren’t rating very high” among priorities for candidates.

“We’re in the middle of a federal election, how about a little more openness, transparency if we’re going to end up paying the freight?” he said. “If we’re going to end up without a product, we should at least be in position where we can know how to make assessments.”

david.larkins@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @LarkinsWSun