GasBuddyGuy: NC Surge ‘Skyrocketed’ Compared to Other States, Expect 7-14 Days of Gas ‘Headaches’ for Carolina

RALEIGH – The Colonial Pipeline is flowing again, but the horse has already left the barn when it comes to panic at the pump. North Carolina was a standout in that regard, having by far the most outages at stations across the state.

According to oil and gas price expert and data analyst Patrick De Haan (GasBuddyGuy), Tar Heels were the first out of the gate in swarming gas stations.

On the other hand, NC outages skyrocketed and then started to chill: pic.twitter.com/vpeu7pM9qn

— Patrick De Haan ⛽️???? (@GasBuddyGuy) May 13, 2021

If you’ve been near any gas stations in the last 24 hours, you know that ‘chill’ is more like plateauing at a near manic level. That pronounced rush to the pumps may be why North Carolina is far and away sporting the worst supply numbers.

6am CT:
% of stations without gas:
AL 9%
DC 47%
DE 5%
FL 31%
GA 49%
KY 3%
LA 0%
MD 34%
MS 7%
NC 71%
NJ 1%
SC 54%
TN 34%
TX 0%
VA 55%
WV 6%

— Patrick De Haan ⛽️???? (@GasBuddyGuy) May 13, 2021

71%! And that’s an improvement from Wednesday night.

The closest to that bad of a number is our neighbor to the north and our sister state to the south, but we still have a large lead. Something about North Carolina is obviously a setting us apart and it’s not our barbecue.

Practically speaking, the fact that the Colonial Pipeline is North Carolina’s (and south east coastal states’) sole/primary source of fuels, can reasonably be assumed to be a driving factor. Yet storage and distribution centers servicing North Carolina still had enough inventory, so there must be another factor that lead to our aggravated situation.

The chart above shows North Carolinians rushed out early and aggressively to fill up the tank, especially in urban metro areas, but spreading through out the state. A fight at a Knightdale gas station made international headlines, more and more towns went nearly dry, and all the sudden the Old North State has proven the most hysterical, or most logistically challenged.

Our sense is it is more likely the former, but why?

It might have something to do with our conditioning, especially with ’emergency’ issues, over the last year or more and how little confidence elected officials like Governor Roy Cooper inspire about when the ’emergency’ will be over.

When you heard Roy Cooper issued a state of emergency, pleaded with you to not hoard gas, and promised this will all be over soon; what was the first thing you thought?

‘I better get gas now.’

And who could blame you?

Just over a year ago, our governor told everyone to shelter-in-place, a mere 15 days to slow the spread to make it all alright.  He went on to institute a curfew, extend school shutdowns, keep businesses closed, and then slapped a mask mandate on our faces for MONTHS.

Here we are on the precipice of summer 2021 and restrictions are still in place, and the governor still requires a mask on your face.

Now we have a pipeline outage and Governor Cooper telling everyone this is only temporary, but PLEASE don’t buy gas if you don’t have to. A year in which we’ve been conditioned to panic, in many ways by Cooper himself, and suddenly calm should reign?

Good luck with that.

Our first place distinction in the worst performance through this event may very well be viewed as a vote of no confidence in Governor Roy Cooper. When we can no longer trust our leaders when they promise that ‘this is only temporary.’

To that end, GasBuddyGuy says we should expect ‘headaches’ for up to two weeks, before returning to normal before Memorial Day weekend.

JUST ahead of Memorial Day weekend or so, finding gasoline shouldn’t require too much. You may occasionally find a station without fuel, but outages should be <20% by then in all areas.

— Patrick De Haan ⛽️???? (@GasBuddyGuy) May 13, 2021