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Gas Supplies Tight; Bush Asks Drivers to Conserve
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The franchise's manager, Redi Hassan, explained that there had been problems with "air pockets" in the regular and super grades and that he believed that only premium gasoline -- which by the end of the day was selling at $3.25 a gallon -- would be guaranteed.
At the Leesburg Amoco BP, Mary Ellen Huffman had gotten calls three times the previous day from the manager, each time with the same message: Raise the prices. Yesterday afternoon, the green and yellow sign outside the store read regular for $3.14 a gallon, up from $2.43 the previous morning, and that spike had made customers "real angry," said Huffman, an assistant manager.
"They say they're going to have to ride bicycles," she said, nodding her head as she stood behind the store counter. "My advice? Get it now."
Harry Chang put up the "Sold Out" signs at his Chesterbrook Excel station on Old Dominion Drive in McLean, but not because of a break in the supply chain from the hurricane. Chang, an independent dealer, ran out of gas Tuesday morning. He said that he could still buy gas to sell but that he didn't want to buy it at the post-Katrina prices. He said the lowest distributor price he knew about was $2.97, and when he added on federal and state taxes plus credit card fees and a 3-cent profit, he estimated that he would have to charge $3.47 a gallon.
That would make Chesterbrook Excel one of the most expensive gas stations in the area. Chang said his station prides itself on being usually one of the cheapest. If he charged $3.47, "nobody would come," said Jose Rivera, who works at the station.
"Selling at a high price would ruin my reputation," said Chang. "I'll wait until it goes down. People say I'm crazy."
Staff writers Karin Brulliard, Kirsten Downey, Lila de Tantillo, Michelle Boorstein, Dina ElBoghdady, Jonathan Abel, Michael Rosenwald, Elissa Silverman and Ann Marchand of washingtonpost.com contributed to this report.
