Several Sheetz stations in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania ran out of regular and mid-grade fuel this weekend.
Others are running low on gas.
The Sheetz chain blames super storm Sandy for stations running out of fuel.
In our area, 14 out of 21 Sheetz stores, that's two-thirds of them, had no regular fuel Sunday night, some had no fuel at all.
At the normally busy Sheetz in Wilkes-Barre Township, customers didn`t notice the blank spaces on gas prices for regular and medium grade fuel.
When Maureen Elick of Wilkes-Barre tried to fill up, nothing happened.
"Could be a gas shortage? I don`t know," she said.
When she tried to pump regular-grade into her SUV, Maureen thought her credit card wasn't working. Then she thought she was at a bad pump.
Turns out the Wilkes-Barre Sheetz and several other stores just ran out of regular gas.
"They always have it," said Elick. "They always have the regular, and they`re out of it, and I don`t know why."
"I didn`t know," said Rosemary Hozempa of Dallas. "I was trying to figure it out, and I was ready to give up."
In Luzerne County alone the Sheetz in Wilkes-Barre Township near the major shopping areas had no regular or medium grade gas.
That was also the case at the Sheetz off Memorial Highway in Trucksville.
A clerk at the outlet on Route 93 in Sugarloaf Township near Hazleton told us she expected the store to run out of regular gas by sundown.
A spokesperson for Sheetz sent out a statement blaming the fuel shortage on refinery shut downs from Superstorm Sandy. The statement adds Sheetz expects the time its stores will have to be without gas to be brief.
"This is Northeastern Pennsylvania," said customer Becky Staviscak of Nanticoke. "We don`t need a gas shortage."
"I don`t think its going to be long-term. I really don`t," said an optimistic Maureen Elick, who said she hopes the Wilkes-Barre Sheetz would get its own fill up of regular gas soon.
While other customers in Wilkes-Barre topped off their tanks with the higher price premium gas, that wasn`t an option for Maureen, who drove elsewhere to fill up.
"I`m a thrifty consumer," she said, "and I save my pennies."
A manager at one of the Sheeetz stores said she hoped trucks would come with more fuel late Sunday. Others said they don't expect gas until Tuesday.
Sheetz corporate only said it does not expect the gas shortage to last long.
Its unknown if other gas station retailers in our area may face the same problems.
We called all 21 Sheetz stores in the 570 area code. Here is the breakdown of the stores that did, and did not have regular gasoline as of 5 p.m. Sunday.
STORES WITHOUT GAS
1-WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP BOULEVARD--WB TOWNSHIP
2-NEW BERWICK HIGHWAY--BLOOMSBURG
3-SUSQUEHANNA TRAIL--SELINSGROVE
4-GORDON NAGLE TRAIL--POTTSVILLE
5-WESTMINSTER DR--WILLIAMSPORT
6-MEMORIAL HIGHWAY--TRUCKSVILLE (DALLAS)
7-MAYNARD ST--WILLIAMSPORT
8-O'NEILL HIGHWAY--DUNMORE
9-SCRANTON-CARBONDALE HIGHWAY--SCRANTON
10-NORTHERN BOULEVARD--CLARKS SUMMIT
11-INTERNATIONAL DRIVE--LEWISBURG
12-WEST FRONT ST--BERWICK
13-NORTH ROUTE 220 HIGHWAY--LINDEN
14-WEST WELLSBORO ST-MANSFIELD
STORES THAT DID HAVE GAS
1-ROUTE 93--SUGARLOAF
2-ROUTE 61-SCHUYLKILL HAVEN
3-WOODBINE LANE--DANVILLE
4-HIGHWAY 315--PLAINS
5-MARKET ST--ELYSBURG
6-HOGAN BLVD--MILL HALL
7-CHESTNUT ST-MIFFLINBURG