Drivers in Calgary are pulling up to their neighbourhood Petro-Canada stations and finding they are coming up dry when they reach the pump.
Several Petro-Canada stations across the prairies have run out of fuel after a refinery in Edmonton was closed for repairs.
Dozens of the Suncor-owned stations have run out of gas and the company says the problem has spread throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The company’s Edmonton refinery was scheduled for maintenance and went offline in April.
During the routine inspection, workers discovered additional problems that required the facility to be closed for longer than expected.
As a result, Petro-Canada says it needs to temporarily curtail the volume of gasoline it supplies to some of its retail sites.
Petro-Canada says it doesn't have a count of how many stations are out of gas because it's trying to stagger the deliveries.
Still, customers like Brad Ingarfield are getting a frustrating surprise.
"It’s shocking first of all, for them to be out of gas," says Ingarfield, “fortunately there’s a gas station not too far from here, hopefully I’ll make it without pushing,” sid Ingarfield.
Michael Moore with the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy says the shortage highlights the problems that can stem from one refinery going offline.
"Almost every refinery in North American is operating pretty close to critical limits all the time," said Moore.
The company says it is currently sourcing additional supplies from its network and that it hopes to have all of the affected sites fully operational once that supply is re-established.
(With files from Bridget Brown)
