By rationing gas, The Pantry hopes to avoid panic buying

At least one major gas station chain began rationing gas Thursday, amid fears that Hurricane Ike would deplete supplies already diminished by hurricanes Hanna and Gustav.

The Pantry, which owns more than 1,600 stores in 11 states, put up signs at all of its stations asking customers to limit their purchases to 10 gallons of gas. That includes all of the Kangaroo stations and Petro Express stations owned by The Pantry, which is based in Sanford.

CEO Pete Sodini said the move was precautionary and caused by a large spike in the price of wholesale gasoline and the shutdown of several Gulf of Mexico refineries.

"We wanted to head off any panic buying," Sodini said. "What you're going to do if you go out and fill up every car in the household [is that] you're going to run this market out of supply temporarily."

Sodini's caution stems from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Consumers rushed to fill up before prices rose above the then-high price of $3 a gallon. Many stations ran out of gas entirely.

Sodini said he's aware that some people might accuse him of creating a panic, but he added, "They've got to tell me how I win by doing this. ... We sacrificed a lot of volume today."

Most people abided by the signs Thursday, Sodini said.

"If somebody comes in and pulls 15 [gallons], there's nobody going out there to chastise them," he said. "Please don't bring in 50-gallon containers and start draining the house dry."

Despite the Pantry's move, other gas stations in this region were not ready to ration gas yet.

At the Wilco Hess station on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh, clerk Abdou Mboup said it was business as usual, with a gallon of regular unleaded going for $3.51.

"You can take whatever you want," he said.

For now, the pipeline that brings most of North Carolina's gasoline up from the gulf is filling all of its orders as scheduled, Colonial Pipeline spokesman Steve Baker said.

But if Ike causes mandatory evacuations, there could be a temporary shutdown of the pipeline, which would crimp supply.

"We don't know where it's going to hit or what effect it's going to have," Baker said.

Exxon Mobil, Valero Energy, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil were among the companies halting operations at refineries on the Texas coast, primarily in the Houston area, The Associated Press reported.

That could hurt supplies, and if the wholesale markets continue to react badly, or if Ike causes major problems, chances are that retail gas prices will rise.

AAA spokeswoman Carol Gifford said that there have already been reports of $4- and $5-a-gallon gas in some parts of the country. In the Triangle on Thursday, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $3.68.

The Pantry will re-evaluate the inventory levels at all of the regional pipeline terminals today, and some of the 10-gallon limit signs may come down, Sodini said. But in areas where supply is low, the signs may remain up.

"We just wanted to make sure," he said.