Some gas stations in Quesnel and Prince George are out of fuel today.
The Petro-Canada station on Carson Avenue has been out of fuel since Monday afternoon. The owner says he has diesel only.
“We normally get [fuel] from Prince George. We are working on getting a shipment daily. All I know is that they are trying to get us fuel and it’s a matter of where they can get it from to get it up here.”
Petro-Canada on Carson isn’t the only station that ran out this week. The 7-Eleven/Petro-Canada on Highway 97 south of Quesnel says they were out Monday but received a shipment Tuesday morning.
All other gas stations in town reported Tuesday they do have fuel.
A staff member at Super Save on Two Mile Flat says it’s been a busy day. He thinks many people are filling up in anticipation of a gas shortage.
Dan McTeague, the senior petroleum analyst for Gasbuddy.com, says the shortage is linked to longer than expected turnaround of the Suncor refinery in Edmonton, Alberta. Suncor operates Petro-Canada.
“Much of the gas in your region is sent from there to the Petro-Canada terminal in Kamloops, then trucked to Quesnel,” he explains.
“At last report, the company was trying to source fuel from the U.S.”
McTeague says the temporary pump closures are expected to last some time, until Suncor gets its refinery operations up and running.
Suncor confirms it is experiencing a gasoline shortage.
“We understand that this is an inconvenience for our customers and we apologize. We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact, including sourcing additional supply,” a member of Suncor’s media relation team tells the Observer.