Drivers looking to fuel up at Toronto gas stations Tuesday found the pumps dry — a phenomenon that some experts say will become more familiar in the future.

Shell stations across the GTA displayed “No Gas” signs after a delay at their refinery in Sarnia caused supply shortages.

“Customers are getting mad,” said Damodar Madhi, an employee at the Shell station near Lake Shore Blvd. and Third St. in Etobicoke, after his station ran out of gas Tuesday morning.

His station hadn’t received a delivery since the weekend, and he had no idea when their next shipment was coming.

Gas shortages in the GTA and across the country will be the new normal, according to experts and Natural Resources Canada. Refineries across the country are pushing out gasoline at or near capacity, and without “new refining capacity, supply interruptions could become more frequent and increasingly difficult to manage,” according to the Natural Resources Canada’s website.

Jeff Gabert, a Shell spokesperson, said the gas company has been experiencing a fuel shortage for the past week, leaving some stations without gas in the GTA, Sarnia and London. Their refinery in Sarnia was shut down for maintenance that lasted a week longer than expected — something that happens frequently at refineries — causing an internal shortage of fuel.

When the company turned to other suppliers in Ontario, including Esso and Suncor, they didn’t have any fuel to spare.

“I don’t think there’s any question right now that it’s a tight supply market,” Gabert said, who refused to specify how many Shell stations were without gasoline.

Of the 24 Shell stations in Toronto contacted by the Toronto Star, 9 had no gas, while another 3 said they were running low.

But the shortage hasn’t caused an increase in prices at the pump, primarily because there are two market forces at work, according to Dan McTeague, a former Liberal MP who runs tomorrowsgaspricestoday.com: A gas shortage keeps prices high, yet the cost of oil is plummeting, which means that gas prices should fall precipitously once the shortage ends.

But McTeague warns of future calamity, saying that the current supply system is just meeting demand.

“There is no slack in the system,” McTeague said. “And what if a refinery is incapacitated for a serious length of time? It could be the end of days for drivers.”

Jason Parent, with Kent Group, a marketing services firm specializing in petroleum, said there have been slowdowns in production at various refineries in Ontario due to maintenance, not just in Sarnia.

There is a “general tightening of supply in the area,” he said.

Supply is also running low in the north-eastern United States. Gas is normally readily available, but has been difficult to obtain, Parent said.

McTeague said with Torontonians paying up to 7.5 cents above world gas prices, the public has a right to know if part of the cause is a fuel shortage. In the U.S., for instance, every refinery is required to supply the United States Department of Energy with weekly information about how much crude each used and how much product it had.

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“It speaks to why we need an appropriate inventory report of what the true supply and demand picture is in Canada,” McTeague said. “If not, we’re going to get ripped off.”

With files from Amanda Kwan