Average gas price in DFW up 16 cents overnight

DALLAS - At gas stations that have not run out of fuel, long lines continue to frustrate some North Texas drivers -- but officials insist it will get better as the days progress.

Governor Abbott on Friday reassured Texans the state does have enough gas and announced a reversal in supply shipments through a pipeline that normally delivers gas from Texas through Tulsa and onto Chicago. Millions of gallons will be piped into Texas instead -- but the process will take a few days.

Gas stations across the area were already being refueled today, but some were out of regular unleaded and other premium gasolines.

Chris Weber tracks Frontier tanker trucks taking gas to stations nationwide. He said the delicate balance of getting gas to the pump was thrown out of sync by the storm and Thursday's purchasing spike.

“For typical use there was adequate supply,” Weber said. “For the atypical demand curve that happened yesterday ... no there wasn’t adequate supply.”

Tanker drivers said they are having a hard time finding what people need.

“The trucks are impacted as well, just because of the limited availability of product in some of the markets,” Weber said.

Governor Greg Abbott says with what’s coming on barges, he’s waiving some restrictions on tankers coming with fuel from other states.

“The Port of Corpus Christi has now opened with barges coming in already with gasoline that came in today and will be coming in the following days,” Abbott said.

Weber said he’s not questioning what Abbott or the Texas Railroad Commissioner say about there being enough supply available. But there is a catch.

“The reality remains that in certain markets -- San Antonio especially, Austin, here in Dallas-Fort Worth -- there is less physical product than there was 10 days ago.”

Weber said there will probably be another week to as many as 10 days before things return to normal.

Some of the people FOX4 spoke with on Friday were running on fumes.

"Man it's pretty bad. I've been trying to buy gas for three days,” Powell said. “You know, I'm kind of worried but, it's not Armageddon yet. Gotta plan ahead."

A member of the Texas Railroad Commission, the agency that regulates pipelines, said there is plenty of gas and the shortage is only a result of people’s fears.

AAA reports the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the area is $.16 higher than on Thursday, although many people are reporting much bigger increases than that.

Overall gas prices are up $.33 in the week since Harvey made landfall.

The pipeline company that delivers much of the gasoline to the southern states expects to resume operations on Sunday.