Retail gasoline prices surged due to continuing problems with Colonial Pipeline Co’s gasoline line that carries fuel to the U.S. East Coast, as the company started to construct a bypass line around the leak.
Colonial said on Saturday evening that it would construct a bypass that circumvents the leak, which occurred more than a week ago in Shelby County, Alabama. It is unclear when construction will be completed but the company has previously said it anticipates reopening the line, which can carry up to 1.2 million barrels of gasoline a day, later this week.
The volume of the spill is estimated to be between 6,000 and 8,000 barrels.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Georgia rose to $2.26 as of Sunday morning, according motorists’ advocacy group AAA, up more than six cents overnight and more than 15 cents in a week. Prices were up 4 cents in North Carolina to $2.136 and 4 cents in South Carolina to $2.011.
Local media reports have shown gasoline lines forming across the U.S. Southeast due to the shutdown and analysts believe that retail prices could be affected for more than two weeks. New York gasoline futures are up 9 percent in the past week, and rose 0.68 percent to $1.4715 a gallon after the market opened for trading at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday (0000 GMT Monday).
Colonial shut its main gasoline and distillate lines that run from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast on Sept. 9 after the leak was discovered. The damaged Line 1 can carry 1.2 million barrels of gasoline per day and runs from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina.
Several states in the Southeast have issued emergency orders waiving certain rules that restrict transport of fuel by road in order to keep filling stations stocked with fuel. It is unclear how quickly the pipeline will be fixed.
“I don’t take much solace in Colonial’s updates,” said Patrick DeHaan, a petroleum analyst who writes a blog called Gas Buddy.
He said prices are moving up roughly one-tenth of 1 cent every hour and that it could take several weeks before prices return to normal.
A Colonial spokeswoman had no immediate response to DeHaan’s assertion.
However, James Williams of WTRG in London, Arkansas, said the projected timeline for restart is possible, even with testing required by federal authorities. He also said consumers’ tendencies to top off their tanks when this type of news hits is not necessarily cause for alarm, either.
“The shortage appears greater because people are filling up more often so you are certain there is a shortage because there are lines at the station but on average they are only purchasing the quarter of a tank of gas instead of three-quarters,” he said.
DeHaan said prices at non-branded chains were rising more quickly than those with larger, branded operations, because larger regional gasoline companies have the ability to tap supply more quickly.
Coming into this week, U.S. East Coast inventories of total motor gasoline, which includes blending components, was higher seasonally than in the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pipeline-operations-colonial-co-alaba-idUSKCN11O0XS
“Local media reports have shown gasoline lines forming across the U.S. Southeast due to the shutdown and analysts believe that retail prices could be affected for more than two weeks.”
Yeah, that ‘leak’ was an accident, alright.
Anna Nicole married for love, too.
What they do not want you to put together is that the gasoline shutdown in Alabama was a terror attack the same weekend as the bombs in Jersey and the Knifing in Minn. Not even making national news that three states are in a state of emergency. Atlanta is almost out of gas. The gas shortage will affect the entire east coast. They picked up a refugee with gasoline plans in July.
they are here and we can thank our government for starting this , and than purposely bringing them here
Oh and what did all this do, it also took everyones eyes off sick Hillary
Here is a snipit from another site posted these questions regarding the fuel shortage.
Pipeline break:
There is no conceivable way that a problem with a single pipe line could cause all the so-called mayhem that is going on in a country built like America. The fact that America has been driven downhill rapidly recently can’t change the past 100 years, when countless pipelines were made
(and there are backups everywhere, not just one supply line) and it also can’t bury the fact that America still has railroads that can deliver, and that there are countless semi trucks that can pick up the slack.
More importantly than all of this however, is the fact that there are storage facilities everywhere and they could not have possibly emptied out so fast it would cause fuel shortages already. Any fuel shortage situation should have taken at least two weeks to evolve, the fact it is happening so quickly proves it is a psy op, and the pipeline was probably “sabotaged” by the people who stand to profit. My guess? The pipeline was broken on purpose and will now sit idle until someone’s objective is met.
As a former railroader, I have seen many trains per day running from North Dakota to the west coast. In the last two years, that traffic has significantly slowed. There has to be many trains of tank cars sitting idle that can be loaned to the RR that serve the east coast. Out here, tracks go into every tank farm. It has to be the same on the east coast.
The only thing I am sure about is that there is more to this event than the sheeple have been ALLOWED to know.
Any excuse to raise gas prices.
Don’t drive unless you absolutely have to. The drop in consumption kills ’em.