It looks like a flashback to the Seventies on the streets of San Antonio today as gas lines are developing at some gas stations and others have run out of gas completely, all due to Hurricane Harvey, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Patrick DeHaan of Gasbuddy says the largest refinery in the country, in Port Arthur, is under water today, and other refineries are still out due to the hurricane's first pass, over Corpus Chrsiti.
"So far, about 25% of the nation's refining capacity is down because of Hurricane Harvey," he said. "That is very quickly tilting the balance of supply and demand and causing gas prices to go up around the country."
In addition to the loss of the refineries, pipelines and other energy industry infrastructure is also still incapacitated by the storm.
"Refineries which typically pump out about 10 1/2 million barrels of gasoline per day, are now only pumping out 7.8 million, which is a long ways from the roughly 9.5 million barrels the country consumes."
Prices as high as $2.39 have been seen around San Antonio, and analysts say the sharply higher prices will probably be around for a while, due to the power of Harvey, and the fact that in its two passes, it hit many of the assets of the Texas energy industry.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg is trying to calm concerns. The mayor says the situation is not as bad as it appears, but that social media is making it worse. Nirenberg said, "San Antonio, there is no gas shortage." He went on to urge residents to "please purchase gas as you would normally do. Don't be misled by social media, which is causing people to panic and purchase more gas than necessary."
The mayor later took to Twitter to post a scene from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" as an analogy into what can happen when residents make a run on resources.