Motorists struggled to find open gas stations last week

The Petro-Canada price board at the station on the west side of Regional Road 50 in Bolton was blank last Tuesday as it had to close due to the supply shortage.

For the past couple of weeks, Caledon motorists have been hard-pressed to find an open gas station.

Gas stations throughout town and across the province have been closed off and on due to the very tight fuel supply situation.

Imperial has experienced unanticipated problems at its Ontario refineries including a recent fire at the Nanticoke refinery. The company has had to divide out supply to its customers, resulting in outages at its Esso retail sites in many markets throughout Ontario. The company said outages may be short-lived and rotating, but some locations will be out of product for longer periods. Diesel supply to commercial customers will also be limited, but fuel for home heat customers is adequate to meet demand.

Extensive efforts with trading partners and transport carriers have been under way to secure additional supply.

Petro-Canada has also faced a significant increase in demand at retail sites throughout the province.

To help improve the overall supply situation, Petro-Canada is putting an additional 500,000 litres of gasoline and diesel into the Ontario marketplace each day, which it calls a significant, but responsible amount given its own supply situation. It's also been looking to source additional surplus petroleum products in areas such as Montreal, Buffalo and Detroit.

"We wish to thank our customers for the patience and caution they have shown," said Fred Scharf, vice-president of sales, service and operations. "We're doing our best to keep up with the increased demand. While we are making every effort to keep inventory replenished as quickly as possible at our retail sites, customers may experience some inconvenience while product is in transit."

Gas prices have shot up since the supply shortage. As of Monday morning, the gas at most stations in Bolton was selling for $1.02 per litre.