The Market And Energy Page, Part 4, T+210 -- August 18, 2017

Why I love to blog: I mentioned this just the other day. Now Argus Media reports:

An expected surge in visitors for the 21 August eclipse helped send Portland, Oregon, suboctane gasoline prices to a four-month high yesterday.

Portland suboctane gasoline ... buoyed in part by anticipation of increased traffic to Oregon to glimpse the first US coast-to-coast eclipse in 99 years. The full eclipse is expected to pass over a large part of the state just south of Portland.

Expectations of upcoming maintenance at a refinery in the Pacific Northwest have also bolstered prices, traders said, but many attribute the daily gains in the Portland gasoline market to anticipation of increased fuel demand from eclipse visitors.

As many as 1.5mn additional people could be in Oregon for the eclipse beyond normal summer traffic, an Oregon State Police spokeswoman told Argus.

"This is incomparable to increased visitors during holiday periods," she said. "I cannot think of anything else like this."

Pipelines, refineries, terminals, delivery trucks and fueling stations are not set up for what could be a 20pc increase in demand over a short period of time.

"Maybe at an individual station, but not a region," Lenard said. "Fuel is a huge concern. Markets have adjusted much higher in the Pacific Northwest. I have heard that some gas stations out there have quadrupled their plans for supply. This is a very unique event."

A significant factor is the availability of tanker trucks to refill underground storage tanks, Lenard said.

"Fuel is not like an extra case of soda — you cannot just stick it in the back room," he said.

Gasoline and diesel supplies may be "stretched thin" in Oregon communities near the path of totality, auto club AAA Oregon said.

"Earlier in the week, we had stations temporarily run out of fuel in central Oregon, and that is the area that seems to be the most impacted by the eclipse," a AAA spokesman said. "This is like a 4 July holiday weekend and a snow event all rolled into one, with the kind of traffic gridlock we are expecting."

On 21 August the eclipse will cast a 70-mile shadow across 14 US states, ranging from Oregon to South Carolina.