Aug. 31 -- Since this story first aired, a major refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, ceased production due to flooding and other factors have changed.
Early this week a rumor was going around the Coastal Bend that suppliers were out of gasoline, and 3News found that was not true. However, temporary shortages of gasoline are reportedly happening around the state, so 3News will have an update tonight as we continue to Verify this story.
Read the original story below:
A rumor has been making its rounds on social media warning Coastal Bend residents of a looming gas shortage.
After receiving numerous calls about the rumor, 3News looked into it and found that it's just that -- a rumor.
"Not looking at any suppliers that are out of gasoline," said Patrick DeHan, Senior Petroleum Analyst at GasBuddy.
Dehan said there have been some price increases at the wholesale level, with only a slight increase at the pump. He also told 3News that at least two area refineries are getting ready to go back online to continue production.
"As of yesterday, Valero was considering resuming operations at its Corpus Christi refinery," DeHan said. "So Flint Hills Resources is very close to restarting, if they haven't already, and Valero is at least considering restarting its facility soon. So that would certainly be some positive signs."
If you want to find out which stations have gas, or if you want to report that a station is out of gas, you can do that at GasBuddy.com.