Colonial Pipeline has restarted its main gasoline line that was shut down September 9 after the discovery of a significant leak, but traders expect it could take more than a week to rebuild depleted inventories in the southeastern U.S.
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Crews built a bypass to move fuel around the leak site, and the bypass was completed earlier this week.
“When Line 1 restarts, it will take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal”.
The line normally handles up to 1.3 million barrels – or more than 54 million gallons – of fuel a day.
Prices in Georgia, one of the most affected, inched up by another cent on Wednesday, with a gallon of regular gasoline now at $2.372, about 28 cents higher than last week’s average prices, according to motorist advocacy group AAA.
The company will continue to excavate and remove the damaged section of the pipeline to investigate the cause of the accident.
Colonial said the pipeline is operating at full capacity with a temporary bypass line diverting flow around the leak site.
Since the line went out of service, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has issued an order to limit gas price increases, and North Carolina Gov.
“Colonial is attempting to resume gasoline operations to all locations as soon as possible and to equitably distribute supply”, the company said in the notice. The line runs through distribution centers in Atlanta and Greensboro, N.C. before stretching up the Eastern Seaboard to New York Harbor. The Columbia, South Carolina area saw prices rise about 6 cents since Monday. Usually running at full capacity, it provides almost 40 percent of the Southeast and East Coast region’s gasoline.
“Current sampling results indicate that the Peel Creek and the Cahaba River are now not impacted”, the statement said.
The spill sent thousands of gallons of gasoline pouring into a retention pond at the site of an old mine, but no fuel made it into the nearby Cahaba River, in part because of locally dry weather.
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‘We appreciate the rapid response of the fuel industry and government to the pipeline disruption, ‘ said LeRoy.
