Multiple Shell stations in Manitoba out of fuel

Signs and pump covers at the Portage Avenue and Maryland Street Shell station indicate the location is out of all fuel types. (CTV Winnipeg/Daniella Ponticelli)

Vehicle out of gas? So are a number of Shell locations in Winnipeg.

Multiple stations across the city posted signage and covers over the pumps this week indicating the locations are out of some, or all, fuel types.

The locations currently affected include, but are not limited to:

Viewers tell CTV the Shell station at the intersection of Dale and Roblin boulevards was only offering regular gas as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.

"How can they run out of gas at this time of the day?" said one disgruntled customer at the Shell location near Scurfield and Kenaston boulevards on Wednesday.

"It's kind of an inconvenience to have to go searching around for it, but it is what it is I guess," said another customer.

Cameron Yost, spokesperson for Shell Canada Limited, said the company conducted unexpected maintenance to its Scotford refinery in early August, which limited the company's ability to produce fuel.

Since then, shortages spread to Thunder Bay, Ontario and now back west.

"While the maintenance is now complete, it, along with higher than usual demand during the summer driving season, has resulted in temporary gasoline shortages at a small number of locations in Winnipeg," said Yost.

"We recognize that this is an inconvenience for our customers and appreciate their patience as we work hard to refill stations that have run out of fuel."

The same fuel shortage impacted parts of Alberta earlier this month, including Edmonton where some stations were also sitting empty. Those stations now have fuel.

"We know that the shell refinery had some disruptions about a month ago, and several of their stations in Edmonton at that time went dry," said Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst at gasbuddy.com.

In a report put out by Natural Resources Canada, in the first nine months of 2014, Canadians increased their consumption of gasoline to 38 billion litres, up 800 million litres from the year before.

According to McTeague, that increase could make gas shortages more common.

"What is obviously a problem here…is a shortness in supply, as a result of consolidation. We're simply not making enough fuel to meet our own domestic needs," said McTeague.