Gasoline runs short in Midwest terminals

A bottleneck in the supply of gasoline has caused some terminals in Iowa to run out of unleaded gas today.

Terminals in Iowa City and Fort Dodge had no unleaded gasoline today, said Bruce Heine, a spokesman for Magellan Midstream Partners, which has an 8,500-mile refined petroleum pipeline system including 47 terminals, eight of which are in Iowa.

The pipeline transports gasoline and diesel fuel from refineries in Oklahoma, Kansas and the Texas Gulf Coast region and from the Minneapolis area.

“Right now we’re not receiving adequate supplies of no-lead gasoline,” Heine said.

He said Iowa City and Fort Dodge were expected to get fuel tonight.

He said larger volume terminals in Des Moines, Mason City, Omaha and Kansas City will have fuel, so truckers may have to drive farther to get fuel to supply gas stations.

“The scenario we have today in Iowa is simply one where supply is not meeting demand,” Heine said. “Today we are unable to supply all of our terminals in Iowa with no-lead. That is a function of lower volumes of supply coming into the pipeline system. It’s not a problem with the pipeline or distribution.”

Des Moines Register