Water-accessed gasoline terminals are helping keep Baldwin stations supplied
Pensacola terminal likely to get a waiver on EPA restrictions
(OBA®) – Life on the Gulf Coast may face a bit less of an impact to the pipeline crisis because of, well, the coast.
Rex Jones of Cougar Oil, a company that supplies mostly independent gas stations all over Alabama and in Northwest Florida rather than large convenient store chains, says gasoline is still arriving and available by water.
“Where we are at in the country we don’t depend solely on the pipeline,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of water borne terminals and you have refineries in Saraland and their stuff comes in off a barge. Pensacola’s a barge terminal, Niceville, Freeport, they’re all barge terminals. Product will still be going into those terminals it’s just there’s more pressure on those terminals due to the pipe being down. Even up here (in Selma) we’re still pulling product from terminals that are still on the pipe but they’ve just cut back how much we can buy.”
A Pensacola supplier ran into emission problems with the EPA and was recently shutdown making the gas supply even tighter. Jones says he expects that the current supply situation will get them a pass until the pipeline is restored.
“We’ve been reaching out to like the governor’s office and people like that,” Jones said. “The Florida Petroleum Marketers Association reached to me a little while ago and said they had talked to the governor’s office and we should be getting a waiver and Pensacola should be opened up today. We’ll be able to start turning loads faster.”
Getting the gas Cougar needs and the amounts of gas they are limited on receiving has made his job a bit harder but he’s still moving product and expects to keep doing so.
“We’re still finding product we’re just having to go to different terminals at times,” Jones said. “The supply on the Gulf Coast is still good. We’re being allocated a little but we’re not necessarily able to buy as much as always. All my trucks are running.”
Jones says the stores Cougar supplies are not shackled by big corporate machinations so they can purchase whatever gas is available not a certain brand. They’re likely, he added, to get Gulf Coast drivers through the pipeline crisis.
“You’ll see a lot of the independent owners and unbranded type locations that will be kind of carrying everybody through this,” he said. “The big corporate stores they’re more boxed in to the way they have to do things where they have to buy a branded product that comes from a certain area. We’re going to go find it wherever we can. A lot of my customers in Baldwin County I have a lot of independent stores along highway 98 and we’re keeping everybody with product.”
If you’re having trouble finding gas, Jones said just drive west from Foley on U.S. 98 and his customers will be ready to sell you gas.
“Highway 98 is going to be well covered with gasoline,” he said. “If you go from Foley over to Fairhope you’ll be running across a lot of my customers. Someone may order 8,000 gallons but we may take ‘em 4,000 gallons. We’re trying to keep everybody with product in the ground and to keep it going.”
He's working the phones and suppliers to find out where he can get the product and keep it moving to his customers.
“Right now, I’m going to Mobile, I’m going to Freeport, I’m going to Niceville, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa,” Jones said. “We are finding gasoline. There’s been a lot of misinformation about how bad things are. There is gasoline. It may not be as convenient to find as always but it will be there and if nobody panics and they use what they need we’re going to be fine.”
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