Gas prices are steadily going up in Texarkana to near $3 a gallon, but the question is why and will there be a shortage?

A story I found on Yahoo talks about the recent ransomware attack on the Colonial pipeline and how it is affecting our gas prices. The recent cyberattack on this pipeline has made the national price of gas now tops $3 a gallon for the first time since 2014. It is hard to believe that just a little over a year ago we were paying only $1.74 a gallon.

Not only has the price of gas gone up substantially it is also in limited supply. Some states in the southeast like Atlanta, and South Carolina are suffering from gas being sold out in over 50 percent of all stations. The states of Florida, Virginia, and Noth Carolina have declared a state of emergency. People even shut down the Gas Buddy website in their search to find gas in that region.

The biggest reason for the shortages is actually people panic buying gas. They are doing something very similar to how everyone bought up all of the toilet paper during the beginning of the pandemic. Right now the increase in people looking for gas is making it hard for the stations to keep up with keeping their tanks full. The increase is almost 14 percent from the same day last week, mostly fueled by people topping off their tank.

According to Gas Buddy, the average price for gas in our area is $2.73 with the cheapest gas being the Wal Mart Market in Wake Village at $2.59. Yesterday I went to two different stations looking for gas for my car. It needs 93 octane gas because it has a turbo. It pays to shop around for gas. One station on the Arkansas side was $3.44 a gallon, on the Texas side I found the same gas for $3.04 a gallon. And it looks like there will be no shortage in our area.

 

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