Weather hinders gas runs in state

Some stations short on fuel

— Ice-covered roads hampered gasoline deliveries to service stations in central Arkansas this week, distributors said, leaving supplies short for the stations not closed because of power failures.

A good part of the state was pummeled Tuesday night by ice and heavy snow.

“Guys like me don’t like risking my employees’ life, so because of the weather you don’t put 18-wheelers on the roads,” said David Zakrzewski, president of Coulson Oil Co. in North Little Rock. “The icy roads have been too treacherous.”

He said any gasoline shortages at fuel stations in the state are the result of trucks not being able to travel the icy roads — not because of a gasoline shortage.

James Williams, an energy analyst and owner of the consulting firm WTRG Economics near Russellville, agreed with Zakrzewski.

“There is no national reason you should be short on gas,” he said. “If you have some without power obviously [people] are buying gasoline at other places.”

Zakrzewski said his company and other distributors are slowly starting to deliver fuel to the stations that are open.

“We are out trying to deliver to those today,” he said Friday morning.

Only two of the 15 trucks Coulson Oil owns were delivering gasoline Thursday. The company, which delivers fuel to stations such as Shell and Valero, had all of the trucks transporting gas Friday.

Zakrzewski said the trucks are mainly going to fuel stations on mains roads that are cleared of ice.

On Friday, as many as 10 gas stations serviced by Coulson Oil remained closed because they lacked electricity. The number on Thursday was about 25.

Zakrzewski did not know when the remaining stations would get power.

Charlie McAlister, president of Max Taylor Oil Co., said he didn’t send employees to deliver gasoline until Thursday.

“I didn’t want to chance it because just how nasty it is,” he said. “I’m not putting anyone out on the roads because we are carrying hazardous materials.”

Max Taylor Oil, a petroleum distributor based in Russellville, has trucks that take gasoline from a terminal in central Arkansas to the western part of the state, including Yell and Polk counties.

McAlister said delivering gasoline wasn’t as hard for Max Taylor Oil as it was for companies in central Arkansas because the western part of the state got less snow and ice.

“Those that had to pick up product and also deliver in Little Rock, I have heard that they had some difficulty doing that,” he said.

Spokesmen for Kroger Co. and Murphy Oil Corp. said their gas stations in central Arkansas are all open and have plenty on fuel.

Williams, the analyst, said the price of gasoline at a station might rise if the station runs short on fuel, but he said it would be temporary and the increase would only be about 5 cents per gallon.

Gasoline prices rose this week because the cost of crude oil jumped Monday, Williams said.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Arkansas was $3.11 on Friday. Last week, the average statewide price was $3.04, according to auto club AAA’s fuel gauge report.

On Friday, the price of regular was $3.07 per gallon the Little Rock-North Little Rock area, compared with $3.05 on Thursday. Last week the average price in the area was $2.99 per gallon.

Business, Pages 25 on 12/29/2012

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