The truck stop published a news release addressing the supply shortages some of their locations are facing.

“While we are seeing some intermittent fuel outages, Love’s does not currently anticipate that these will be long term,” the truck stop said. “If the supply situation deteriorates to a larger scale and longer duration outages become unavoidable, we will communicate alternative locations where fuel will be available.”

Despite the stress that is certain to come to the nationwide truck stop, they are prioritizing the needs of their customers.

“[We are] committed to utilizing all available resources to secure and deliver product to prevent or minimize impacts to our customers,” Love’s said.

They encourage customers to use the Love’s Connect App to track fuel supplies at specific locations and avoid the frustration of pulling up to an empty pump.

Energy officials have been working hard to combat the swirling rumors about a nationwide fuel shortage and its implications. They continue to emphasize that the country will not run out of fuel anytime soon.

Despite data from the Energy Information Administration showing a 26-day diesel supply, the data does not consider continued diesel production. Patrick De Haan, a fuel analyst from GasBuddy, a fuel price tracking software, offered his expert opinion.

He said that while some regions may experience “extremely tight” fuel supplies, shortages at individual stations do not reflect a plausible future for the entire country’s supply.

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When the currently low distillate supply is placed in comparison to the low levels of 2008, there are some important differences. In 2008, supply levels were low as the country headed into the summer of the year, following a spring of high demand; now, the country heads into winter with higher demands of distillates such as diesel and heating oil. October 1982 was the last time U.S. distillate levels have been as low as they are now.

While there are many concerns in the United States with the state of distillates, and in turn diesel, a widespread outage of diesel is unlikely, according to Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, the vice president of public affairs at NATSO, a trade association that represents U.S. travel centers and truck stops.

“Diesel supply is tight and diesel inventories are low,” she said. “This is a structural problem, but the market is adjusting to get product where it needs to be as efficiently as possible. Absent a disrupting event, the current period of vulnerable stability can continue.”

This is supported by Tina Arundel, the senior director of communications for Travel Centers of America. She said that there is no notable concern in any of her company’s 288 locations across 44 states and is “not certain why anyone would be out of product.”

Hearing that experts feel an outage is unlikely does not mean that the fuel system itself isn’t experiencing a mild crisis.

“There is no shortage but the supply and logistics system is strained,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).

If you’re in the market for diesel, it is unlikely that you’re going to experience a lack of fuel. You may, however, experience more of your budget going toward fuel. As of Oct. 31, the national average per gallon for diesel was $5.31, according to the EIA. Zach Wall, senior vice president of sales and marketing for fuel supply and logistics provider at Mansfield Energy, said that buyers should plan for increased prices if they’re to obtain fuel.

“Short answer is there’s very little slack in the supply chain,” he said, “so the shortage could cause intermittent runouts to allow time for consumers to go to Plan B if/when something falls through, and potential cost overruns associated with securing product through extraordinary means. But if buyers have the fortitude for higher prices, they’ll likely be able to secure product as necessary.”

Decreased supply levels could not only increase price tags for fuel, but also leave consumers unprotected from unpredicted increases in demand or decreases in supply.

 “For example, if a major refinery shuts down for a period of time, or it gets unseasonably cold in the northeast,” Wlazlowski Neuman said, “the cause for concern could increase.”

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