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GREENSBORO — Gas stations and convenience stores that looked like boom towns Friday had turned into ghost towns by Saturday.

The reason?

Their customers had all purchased gas on Friday — when panicked buying ahead of Hurricane Ike’s landfall resulted in record sales at some stations. Or they had pumped out all their fuel.

A spot survey of 10 stations across the Gate City on Saturday showed that four stations had run out of at least one grade of gasoline and three had no gas at all.

What’s worse, those that are out say they may not get another delivery for several days. And when they do, motorists likely will pay more for it.

That means that spot shortages and record high prices — already as much as $4.65 at some stations — could linger for days as oil companies assess Ike’s damage to their operations.

“From what our distributor told us, we will probably be in the middle of next week before we get more fuel,” Steve Gladson, owner of Battleground BP, said Saturday, a day after he sold nearly 9,000 gallons of fuel, which is about six times more than normal. “Anything around $4.25 to $4.50 is going to be a decent street price.”

That would mean that Ike’s approach and landfall likely will raise pump prices in the Triad between 75 cents to $1 a gallon.

Those numbers have left motorists angry.

Bob Bussey, a Greensboro resident, said when he went out West Market Street on Friday to buy gasoline he passed one station — which he would not identify —that had raised prices 65 cents overnight.

He reported the station to the North Carolina attorney general’s office for price gouging. But Bussey went home without any fuel.

“I gave up,” Bussey said, citing the fact that some stations had run out of gas or others had long lines of cars. “People were real frustrated. It reminded me of (oil embargoes in) the early ’70s. It just wasn’t worth it.

“We’re just going to cut back,’’ he said. “We figure we have enough gas for seven to 10 days. Most people in line appeared to be topping off.”

Station operators said Saturday they had never seen such a demand for gas, even after Hurricane Katrina disrupted supplies around Labor Day in 2005.

“Everybody went crazy,” said Jim Towery, an employee at Steve’s Friendly BP on Green Valley Road. “There wasn’t going to be any more gasoline. ... What are they going to do when we really run out of oil?”

Ike’s impact on the oil industry could not be determined Saturday.

“We don’t know the damage yet,” said Carol Gifford, a spokesman for AAA Carolinas, a motor club in Charlotte. “It seems like the flooding is pretty extensive. That could have an impact on the refineries. It will take a few days to know more.”

Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth of the nation’s refining capacity. Oil companies in the region shut down their operations as the storm approached and reported Saturday that they were without power.

The good news is that the storm made a slight course change just before it made landfall and appeared to miss the refineries in the Houston area.

Even so, the average price of a gallon of gas in the Triad had climbed to $3.86, according to AAA. That’s 22 cents higher than Friday.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com