Gas rationing started this morning

From NBC 4:

Significant damage to northern New Jersey petroleum distribution facilities -- including the region’s largest refinery -- could keeps lines long at the gasoline pumps for weeks, NBC 4 New York's I-Team has learned.

When Sandy came ashore last week, the Bayway Refinery in Linden, N.J. took on 12 feet of salt water, according to Rich Johnson, a spokesman for Phillips 66, the refinery’s parent company. Floodwaters damaged critical equipment, hampering the facility’s ability to pump gasoline into pipelines that are typically accessed by tanker trucks.

“We had a lot of electrical equipment that was damaged,” said Johnson.

The Bayway refinery is the most productive refinery in the tri-state region, processing about 238,000 barrels of crude oil per day. On the East Coast, Bayway is second only to a plant operated by Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which has a production capacity of 335,000 barrels a day.

As a result of the problems at Bayway and other storm-damaged petroleum terminals, many delivery trucks must fill up with wholesale gasoline at terminals in the Philadelphia area, severely delaying shipments to New York and New Jersey gas stations.

From The Huffington Post:

Due to the high demand of gas post-Hurricane Sandy, New York City and Long Island will begin gas rationing on Friday morning.

If your license plate ends with an even number, you can only purchase gas on an even-numbered day. If your license plate ends with an odd number, you can only buy gas on odd-numbered days.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg signed an emergency order instituting gas rationing on Thursday.