A bag covers a pump handle at a gas station that has no fuel to sell Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. In the meantime, Colonial has been using its second pipeline to deliver gas; that one typically delivers diesel, jet fuel, and home heating fuels.
Advertisement
Gasoline prices are up across North Carolina, and some stations are running out of fuel.
Colonial Pipeline said it was working “around the clock” to fix the break and that supplies have either been delivered or are on their way to locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
“Our focus is getting our main line back in service this week”, says Steve Baker, with Colonial.
Colonial Pipeline shut down the line that pumps a million barrels of gas a day to North Carolina and five other Southern states. It was first detected on September 9.
In Ohio, average retail gas prices have risen 10.9 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.17 Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 gas outlets in Ohio.
Prices in Kalamazoo and Lansing were up slightly this week increasing.6 cents to $2.18/g and 1 cent to $2.19/g, respectively, according to GasBuddy.com.
The average gas price in Tennessee in $2.10 compared to $1.99 a week ago.
AAA Mid-Atlantic projects that fuel prices could increase by up to approximately 20 cents per gallon. AAA reported the average price in the Jacksonville area was $2.10 Monday morning, down 3 cents from a week earlier.
Officials are still investigating the cause of the leak and have shutoff the pipeline during cleanup.
“I didn’t think it would get worse overnight, but it just did”, Parks said while waiting in a line to refuel on Monday.
The rush came after a pipeline, which runs through 11 states from Houston to New Jersey, leaked anywhere from 252,000 to 336,000 gallons of gas near Helena, Ala. Some states have already issued executive orders warning against price-gouging as individuals have noted certain gas stations charging as much as 2.99 for regular grade gas.
“The Tennessee Petroleum Association has informed us any unavailability is being resolved in a matter of hours, and often even if one station is out of fuel, other stations nearby have fuel available”, he said in a statement over the weekend.
Mr. Parker says he doesn’t anticipate the prices to start leveling out until the end of the month.
The company is in the process of creating a bypass line around the site of the leak.
Advertisement
Colonial Pipeline officials are issuing updates several times a day, but have given no indication as to when the leak will be fixed.
