ASHEVILLE – It became considerably more difficult to find gasoline for sale in the area Wednesday and Thursday, but people who watch the industry say problems should be temporary.

They said Thursday that supplies were still fine, but customers were buying gas so rapidly that delivery trucks are having trouble keeping up. Many stations were without gas at midday Thursday after only scattered outages were reported Wednesday morning.

The problem is not expected to last, although some disruptions could return when Hurricane Florence makes its way to Western North Carolina in a few days.

“Some gas stations that might not have it right now, they could easily have it tomorrow, depending on the delivery schedule,” said Tiffany Wright, a spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas. “It’s panic buying again and that’s unfortunate. We’re our own worst enemies sometimes.”

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Some Ingles Markets stores had no gas available Thursday, but Chief Financial Officer Ron Freeman said company officials “expect outages at any given site to be temporary.”

“We are getting steady deliveries, but demand is outrunning those deliveries in some areas. Crowded roads are further slowing down some of our fuel deliveries,” Freeman said.

Colonial Pipeline, probably the largest source of gasoline for North and South Carolina, said the pipeline is operating normally.

Freeman hoped the run on gasoline won’t last long.

“There is not a shortage of fuel, so we hope delivery schedules and buying patterns will soon be back to normal,” he said.

Gas prices in the Asheville were little changed.

AAA reported that the average retail price of a gallon of regular here was $2.781, the same as it was Wednesday. That's only four tenths of a cent higher than it was a week ago and about a penny less than the same point in August.

The statewide average of $2.686 a gallon was up 1.4 cents from Wednesday and 1.7 cents from a week before.

Memories of past hurricanes in which it was difficult to find gas appear to have pushed some people in WNC to fill up their tanks sooner than they normally would. Visitors here for the World Equestrian Games or evacuating coastal areas ahead of Hurricane Florence are also adding to demand.

"It really is a direct result of Florence and it has to do with people topping off," Wright said.

There were reports of stations running out of gas in various places around the state, but any disruption to the fuel supply should be brief, Wright said.

Unlike past storms, Florence to leave refineries untouched

Experts on the oil and gas industry were quick to point out that Florence is different from most hurricanes that have affected WNC.



Past memorable storms have typically moved north to the mountains after coming ashore on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where many refineries and oil wells are located.

The damage they cause to those facilities to the south sometimes decreases gasoline supplies for much of the eastern United States, including WNC.

But Florence is headed to the region from the east. It could shut down fuel terminals in Wilmington and Charleston, South Carolina -- AAA Carolinas says there are at least five in the two cities combined -- but they do not play much of a role in supplying WNC.

The Plantation Pipe Line runs on a similar course as the Colonial and is another important source of gas for WNC and North and South Carolina. The pipeline could shut down temporarily if there are power outages, AAA Carolinas said.

"At this point, we don't anticipate any supply disruptions," Scott Shealy, head of Asheville-based distribution company Citizens Fuel, said Wednesday.

"Unless something unusual occurs, we should be OK unless the panic buying begins," Shealy said.

Apparently, it did, after Shealy spoke. But there are only so many vehicle gas tanks to be filled in WNC and experts were still optimistic that gas deliveries will catch up with demand soon.

Wright said Florence will disrupt gas station operations and tanker truck deliveries wherever it goes, but that in most cases it won't take long for pumps and trucks to get back on line.

State officials said as many as 1 million people were evacuating from coastal areas. All of that travel created more demand for gas than usual.

Wright said there are "pretty bad" supply problems in coastal areas in the Carolinas. Residents there understandably fill up their vehicles before leaving, she said.

Re-supplying the coast could also strain the gas distribution system a bit after Florence passes through, she said, but she does not expect those effects to be long lasting either.

"If you're sitting at home right now and your tank's on 'E,' you probably should go get gas," Wright said.

But she said long lines reported at some stations elsewhere in the state are a result of "a knee jerk reaction" and are "really unnecessary."