Once the pipeline restarts, many shipments will be rerouted to southern locations in need of supply, which could result in short-term storage issues, the company said in a notice to shippers.
Advertisement
Immediate action was required on Line 1 on September 9 in Shelby County, Alabama, when a gasoline odor was detected on mining property.
Colonial continues to move as much gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal. Gas prices in six states jumped up along with a state of emergency being declared in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
The company attempted to mitigate supply problems by shipping “significant volumes” on Line 2, the distillate main line from Epes, Alabama, to Anderson, South Carolina. Once all the gasoline is collected, the company will see if it can still be used.
The roughly 500-foot (152-meter) section of pipe serving as the bypass is now complete, but supply disruptions may continue for days, Colonial Pipeline spokesman Steve Baker told The Associated Press.
Colonial Pipeline officials say they fully expect the newly installed bypass line to support their normal flow of 1.3 million barrels of gasoline a day.
The federal government gave a plug to GasBuddy.com, a retail gasoline price comparison site, which recently launched a tracking tool to determine fuel availability at thousands of retail stations in the Southeast.
Colonial has estimated that 252,000 gallons to 336,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from the line.
Nationally, the average price for gasoline was $2.19 Saturday, up a penny from the previous week, while statewide, Georgia’s Saturday average was $2.20, an increase of nine cents from seven days earlier, according to AAA.
Advertisement
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 Columbia, South Carolina area saw prices rise about 6 cents since Monday. The price has climbed almost 7 cents since Monday in the Macon and Augusta areas. Additionally, HOS waivers expire October 15 for Alabama and North Carolina; Oct 1 for Virginia and September 23 for Tennessee.
