Storm Alert Update – The Colonial Pipeline is Operational, but Significantly Delayed

By Elite StrategiesPublished On: September 1, 2017

Gainesville, GA – September 1, 2017 – With Harvey now firmly past the Gulf Coast, all efforts now shift to recovery and disaster response. Local rescue efforts continue to find people trapped in their homes by the flooding to evacuate them. Much refining capacity remains offline in East Texas, but refiners are beginning to assess damage and begin restarts. So far, no major damage has been reported at any refineries, though Motiva’s Port Arthur refinery, the largest refinery in the U.S., may be offline for two weeks or more. Approximately 4.1 MMbpd of refined production is still offline at this point.

In Texas, supply remains extremely tight. Reported lines for trucks to load at terminal racks are upwards of 3-4 hours, up to 8 hours at some locations. As disaster response crews descend on the area, more fuel will be required to support recovery efforts.

The Colonial Pipeline has clarified that operations continue east of Lake Charles, though at reduced rates. Operational shutdowns did occur between Houston, TX and Lake Charles, LA. Refineries in Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans continue to feed into the pipeline, supplying the Southeast; unfortunately, these refineries cannot pick up the slack from the 2.2 MMbpd coming offline due to outages at Baytown, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Houston.

For context, the last reported PADD 1 (East Coast) product supplied (demand) of all refined fuel was 5.2 MMbpd in May. That means that over 40% of the refining capacity needed to supply the East Coast is still offline. While product is still flowing through the Southeast, it is significantly delayed, causing local supply outages. Colonial’s last announcement indicated they expected the Houston-Lake Charles segment to resume operations Sunday evening; we’ll likely have more information tomorrow on that start-up date.

Mansfield continues to work around the clock to help our customers fuel during the storm. If you have any questions or need to secure supply in the Gulf area or in the Southeast along the Colonial Pipeline, please reach out to your sales rep or customer relationship manager for more information about ordering product. Please place orders 48-72 hours in advance whenever possible, to allow time to secure supply and freight during the shortage.

Code Red (Areas with significantly reduced or unavailable supply)