Gas shortage in the South

The cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline has created a mass panic throughout South Mississippi as well, causing customers to flood local gas stations.

Several Harrison County gas stations, including the TCB Stop N Geaux in Gulfport, have seen an influx of customers in the last 36 hours due to residents’ panic buying fuel.

Some businesses have asked customers to limit the amount of gas they purchase while others are completely out of fuel.

With the Colonial Pipeline contributing to less than 30 percent of the fuel supply in Mississippi, State Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson warns against panic buying. “The reality is we do not have a fuel shortage. We have plenty of fuel in Mississippi. What you saw this morning and what I saw last night and this morning is long lines of people who watch media and national media and they’re scared to death and they’re panic buying. And that is a greater danger than the Colonial Pipeline cyber-attack.”

Not all residents are rushing to the pumps to stock up.  Gulfport resident Chris Brit made sure to get only what he needed. “So as this year has been going with the shortage of toilet paper and the shortage of everything that is going on, I feel there is going to be a shortage because everyone’s going to come out and get fuel. I’m getting fuel today for my lawn mower and everything before there is a shortage of gas, but I don’t have a concern of there being not any fuel for like anyone to get to get to work and to travel.”

Until the end of the week when the pipeline is expected to be restored, Gipson suggest citizens limit unnecessary travel and purchase fuel only as needed.

Chevron has released a statement responding to the Colonial Pipeline outage: “Chevron’s refining operations in the Gulf Coast are unaffected by the outage of the Colonial Pipeline.  We are actively managing fuel supply disruptions related to the Colonial Pipeline outage.  While we continue to work hard to supply our customer network along the U.S. gulf and east coasts, the duration of the outage may lead to limited disruptions in supply in some areas based on current inventory levels at our proprietary terminals and exchange partners, logistics constraints caused by the outage, and customer demand. Providing safe and reliable fuel for our customers remains our top priority.”