Gas shortage will fade slowly

Another 900,000 barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve are headed toward Gulf Coast refineries that help supply Atlanta’s gasoline.

But don’t expect it to help cut lines at filling stations this week.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday it had released the oil in a letter sent to Gov. Sonny Perdue. Perdue had requested more oil be released from the reserve, but the DOE said it had made the decision in response to requests from Gulf Coast oil refiners.

To help the supply chain interrupted by hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the Department of Energy has now released a total of 5.7 million barrels of crude since Sept. 3, the agency said.

On Wednesday, gas station lines around metro Atlanta appeared to shrink as drivers conserve and find other ways to get around. And a steadier supply is slowly making its way here: More Gulf Coast refineries are coming back online, one pipeline serving Atlanta is at full capacity, and another is at 80 to 85 percent capacity.

But areas hardest hit by the supply shortage — Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville — still face another week or two of shortages, even with the Gulf Coast’s latest infusion of crude oil.

Drivers can expect lines, but not fist-fights; available fuel, but not all day, every day.

Already, an Atlanta gas-hunting feed on Twitter, a Web site that lets users post instant messages, reflected collective relief as more people reported once-empty stations showing signs of life.

Stacie Hanna drove toward her daughter’s day care about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, noticed empty spaces at a Shell gas station on the way, pumped enough to fill the tank on her Acura SUV and drove on. It felt good, easy, even normal, she said.

“I saw cars at the pump, no line, I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just turn in and fill up,’ ” says Hanna, 34, who lives in North Buckhead. “It was really unexpected.”

QuikTrip, which has 111 gas stations in metro Atlanta and accounts for more than a fifth of the area’s gasoline sales, had deliveries at every store on Wednesday; about 10 ran out by the afternoon. A few days ago, only half its stores had gas coming in at all.

“We do believe the situation is getting better on a daily basis,” QuikTrip spokesman Michael Thornbrugh said. “We’re still going to have spot outages, and that’ll go on for a little bit of time, but they won’t be near as noticeable. The worst is behind us.”

The way in which Perdue responded to the Atlanta area’s gas shortage has been criticized by some drivers and politicians, including Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine.

On Wednesday, Oxendine’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign called on Perdue to implement alternate-day gas purchasing and other emergency measures.

Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said state government has been judiciously implementing parts of the state’s Energy Emergency Plan, including easing haulers’ licensing restrictions and requesting the additional reserve crude.

“As [drivers] get more confident there’s going to be gas there when they need it, they’ll only get it when they need it,” Brantley said.

“This will normalize the demand a little bit.”

Across the country, demand has fallen, said Brian Milne, a refined fuels editor for energy information service DTN.

Supply increases should mean a drop in price will follow, said Jason Toews, co-founder of AtlantaGasPrices.com and its parent site, GasBuddy.com. Prices spiked briefly around the United States after hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast, Toews said, but Georgia prices remained high.

“It’s been pretty bad in the whole Southeast — people are clamoring for gas, it makes the problem even worse,” Toews said. “Within two or three weeks, we’re going to see gas prices go back down.”

Just what Hanna wanted to hear.

She’s driving to Charlotte to visit family this weekend, and worried she’d be stuck in line for hours — here or there — with her husband, 2-year-old and the family dog. She’s feeling lucky, or at least close to normal.

“I thought maybe we should postpone,” Hanna said. “Now I’m feeling less like that’s going to be a risk.”

Staff writer Stacy Shelton contributed to this report.