Consumers Fear Higher Gas Prices

NEW YORK - Anxious consumers in various parts of the country lined up for an hour or more to fuel up on gasoline costing as much as $5 a gallon amid fears supplies would be disrupted following Tuesday`s terrorist attacks. As gasoline wholesalers and retailers quickly raised prices, the nation`s largest oil companies immediately tried to allay consumers` worries by freezing their prices and pledging to keep distribution steady.

Panic caused by rumors of a pending gasoline shortage sent prices skyrocketing in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Michigan and other states.

The R and L Texaco in Oklahoma City increased the price of unleaded gasoline to $5 a gallon after a supplier told owner Lewis Pfenninger it was unclear when the next shipment would be available and at what price.

At the Sunshine Conoco in Springfield, Mo., gas prices were raised after the attacks by 40 cents a gallon to $1.99 a gallon.

In California, gasoline wholesalers raised prices by as much as 20 cents a gallon on supply fears, although traders said there was no evidence of a shortage.

Exxon Mobil and BP sought to calm energy markets. The companies said supplies would not be hampered – except around New York City. The companies tried to reassure consumers that there was no need to stockpile gasoline.

"We are asking all of our customers to maintain their normal buying habits," Exxon Mobil spokesman Tom Cirigliano said late Tuesday. "We have ample supplies. We`re trying to avoid an artificial shortage."

But as distribution terminals closed down around the country for security reasons and motorists worried there wouldn`t be enough fuel, gasoline prices rose almost immediately in parts of the Midwest.

Prices had already been soaring in the Midwest because of distribution bottlenecks that were in effect long before Tuesday`s catastrophe.

"It`s supply and demand," said Pfenninger, owner of the Texaco station in Oklahoma City where gas sold for $5 a gallon. "My lines were so long."

Pfenninger said he could have sold out his supply at that price, but decided to close early. He said he would reconsider the price hike on Wednesday.

In Tulsa, Brandon Disney waited in his car at the pumps at a QuickTrip store.

"I`m just filling up, so I don`t have to fight anybody to get gas if there is a shortage," he said

Added Tulsa Police Sgt. Wayne Allen: "We`re having to assign officers to convenience stores to direct traffic and break up fights."

Authorities in Oklahoma were investigating instances of price-gouging, while Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore asked Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to declare a state of emergency, which would allow prosecutors to pursue price-gougers there.

Moore said he had received reports of gas prices doubling to as much as $3.60 a gallon within hours.

Greg Seiter, a spokesman at the AAA Hoosier Motor Club in Indiana, said his office has received reports of prices rising to $3 and $4 a gallon in parts of Indiana – including Anderson, Bloomington and Indianapolis – in the wake of the attacks.

"Obviously that`s a reaction to the events of this morning. What happened immediately after (the attacks) was the price of crude oil in overseas trading climbed suddenly," Seiter said.

The AAA`s national office is urging retailers not to impose large price increases.

Nationwide, the retail price of unleaded gasoline is $1.54 a gallon.

Tom Kloza, director of Oil Price Information Service, a Lakewood, N.J., publisher of oil industry data, said he expects petroleum companies to act with restraint in the face of intense marketplace jitters.

"To be raising prices frenetically in this atmosphere makes the entire situation more difficult," he said. "The last thing the American public needs to think about right now is that they need to be racing out to load up on fuel."

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News