Accessibility and availability of gas stations for liquid fuel supply during severe weather events

Electric power is essential to the continued functioning of critical assets. During extreme events that compromise electricity infrastructures, liquid fuels and other physical primary energy commodities are used to meet the energy demand of these assets and other dependent critical infrastructures. In 2020, oil and natural gas (ONG) contributed to 60% of electricity production in the United States. During winter storm events (e.g., Uri that impacted Texas in 2021), the demand for ONG for heating and power generation has increased over the past several years, which subsequently caused ONG prices to skyrocket. Despite obvious use, very little, if any, situational awareness information about ONG supply and demand is available for coordinating emergency efforts. During Superstorm Sandy, the disruption of fuel supplies in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut necessitated increasing situational awareness about ONG systems to redirect fuel supplies to first responders and for restoration efforts. Often this lack of information is due to the decentralized nature of the ONG supply chain and insufficiency of reported data to protect business sensitive information. This broader project focuses on providing situational information about supply, availability, and demand across the ONG supply chain, which will be integrated with the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) EAGLE-I (Environment for Analysis of Geo-Located Energy-Information) platform used for real-time situational awareness about energy sector. This paper presents preliminary findings from an accessibility model of gas stations and the conceptual framework deployed to model petroleum availability and accessibility during extreme events.