Is it Time to Start Panicking about Gasoline in New Jersey?

I'm sure you've have noticed that Gas prices are unusually high right now. I actually considered riding my bike to work when I saw my local gas station in Bensalem selling gasoline for $3.07. #GasShortage2021 has been trending all day, and all anyone on my social media timelines are talking about are the long lines at the gas stations and how this might be the beginning of an apocalypse.

So what the heck is going on? Why are people all the sudden freaking out over gas? Well last week, the Colonial Pipeline that fuels the entire east coast and South was shut down. According to NJ.com, the pipeline transports more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily, through a pipeline system spanning more than 5,500 miles between Texas and New Jersey.

According to the Washington Post, the shut down was caused by a cyberattack that forced the system off line. But believe it or not, that isn't the cause of the gas shortages. The cause is people freaking out and panic buying! Sound familiar? (*cough cough* The toilet paper shortage we had back in 2020.) As a result of panic buying, the fuel demands and prices have skyrocketed. According to the Washington Post, the average price is now above $3 a gallon for the first time since 2014.

Thankfully, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have not yet been affected as much as some of our neighboring states. According to NJ.com, gas shortages here in the Garden State are actually unlikely, but we will feel the affects of it with prices going up.

We have a lot of product and we happen to house the terminus, the end of the line for the Colonial Pipeline,” Tom Kloza, Oil Price Information Service global petroleum analyst, told NJ Advance Media. “I think we’ll see something that is annoying or inconvenient, but not apocalyptic.”