Gas station owners have reported having issues with keeping tanks full throughout the whole pandemic.

“Since COVID happened, we’ve had issues with the deliveries,” said Sam Kassis, Owner of the Maumelle Food Mart and its gas station. “Now recently with this shortage thing, it’s hard to keep gas on the tanks.”

“The strength of demand is pushing prices higher, at a time when typically, as drivers hit the road for the summer months, we tend to see higher prices anyway,” says, Dr. Michael Pakko, Chief Economist of the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at UA Little Rock.

Pakko Reports that the issue isn’t really a gas shortage but an increasingly high demand cause prices to go up.

“No, there’s really not a shortage,” Pakko said. “It’s just that demand is growing faster than supplies, stockpiles are being drawn down.”

This is the problem people like Kassis are having. They’ve had a couple of points where they’ve ran out of some types of gas because of their delivery times. Even so, having no gas at a gas station creates issues for him.

“No need to go stock up, fill your tank, or fill gas tanks, or cans like that,” Pakko said. “Just be prepared to pay somewhat higher prices for the next few weeks.”

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