Gas shortage reported in the Sault area

SooToday has received word there is a shortage of both diesel and regular fuel at some Sault gas stations.

While it is not known how many stations are affected, or how widespread the problem is in other communities, a spokesperson for the refuelling station at the Mac’s location at 628 Third Line East confirmed there is a  shortage at that particular station while speaking to us Monday morning.

“We have certain allocations (of fuel) and some drivers had to go out of town (away from the local McDougall Energy supply depot in the Sault), to Sarnia, to Sudbury or Toronto...we ran out of diesel about a week ago,” the spokesperson said.

A smaller-than-usual delivery of diesel and regular fuel came to the 628 Third Line East gas station Sunday, the spokesperson said.

Normally, 40,000 litres of diesel are delivered, but the spokesperson estimated 20,000 of diesel were delivered on the weekend, along with a smaller amount of regular fuel.

“I would say, for now, it’s enough to last us a couple of days and if we don’t get a shipment we might run out, if we do get it, then it’s fine,” the spokesperson said.

The petroleum industry has recently gone through a major gas and diesel outage province-wide, due to a refinery renovation, the current shortage possibly linked to more issues related to refineries.

A spokesperson for the Petro Canada outlet at 937 Great Northern Road said both diesel and regular gasoline were available at that location as of Monday morning.

Management at the Shell station at 386 Great Northern Road, where customers were given discounts on Premium grade fuel over the weekend because the station was out of regular grade fuel, were not immediately available for comment.