HALIFAX -- Two Nova Scotia gas retailers say they're concerned shortages that closed stations on the weekend could happen again because the province relies on tanker deliveries by sea.
Motorists lined up at gas stations that had fuel on Monday morning after a shortage of gasoline caused some outlets to temporarily close or only provide some grades of gasoline.
“Someone took their eye off the ball,” said resident Maureen Halstead. “We shouldn't have to be doing this in this day and age.”
Wade Sullivan, the owner of the Fas Gas outlet in New Glasgow, said motorists were backed up about 100 metres from his pumps on Monday morning because other stations in northeastern Nova Scotia had empty tanks.
He linked the shortage to the conversion of an Imperial Oil refinery in Halifax to a tank farm at the end of 2013, meaning retailers rely heavily on shipments of refined gasoline being brought in by ship.
"If the ship shows on time with product on time, that's it. If it doesn't then we're in a situation like this," Sullivan said in a telephone interview.
A spokesman for Imperial Oil said in an email that the company had a supply of gasoline by early Monday and resumed deliveries. Merle MacIsaac declined to provide any further comment on the shortage or the reasons behind it.
David Collins, vice-president of Wilson Fuel Co. Ltd., said he expects it will take the rest of the week for supplies to reach all of his chain's 55 stations.
He says the shortage results in a difficult situation for everyone.
'Well, you know, if you stop to think about it, they've got lots of tanks. But then nobody's paying them to keep the inventory,” he said.
He also tied the shortages to the closure of the refinery, adding he feels the shortages could happen again, citing the weather as a factor in getting ships into port.
"If you're supplied by boats and its hurricane season ... it could just be a weather problem that they can't get the tankers into the harbour," he added.
Collins said he was told by his Imperial Oil supplier last week that a tanker from the United States had a shipment rejected by federal inspectors because the gasoline didn't meet required specifications.
By Friday there was no supply, he said, but a tanker did arrive on Saturday.
MacIsaac declined comment on Collins's description of events.
Mark Furey, the province's minister of Service Nova Scotia, said the government was surprised by the sudden shortage on one of the busiest tourism weekends of the year.
He acknowledged widespread public frustration and promised to meet with the company and consider methods to avoid another shortage.
"What's important now is we continue to engage the industry to determine what the contributing factors were ... and through that discussion ensure we don't find ourselves in these circumstances again," he said.
The province is creating a system to track the price and volume of gasoline sold around the province, which may improve communication between the government and industry in the future, he added.
Sullivan said it isn't the first time independent retailers have experienced a shortage as he was told over the winter by his supplier that Imperial ran out of diesel at one point.
"There wasn't such a panic because it didn't get out there and they were able to manage it and get through it," he said.
Collins said five years ago his company altered some of its largest stations to allow them to use gasoline produced by an Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B.
But Irving gasoline contains ethanol and its not economic for the majority of his smaller stations to make the changes necessary to accept the mixture of gas produced in New Brunswick, he said.
With files from CTV Atlantic and The Canadian Press.
