The spill was first detected on September 9, but it’s not clear when it began.
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On Wednesday, Colonial Pipeline estimated the total amount of leaked gasoline to be around 6,000 barrels, or 252,000 gallons.
“The Colonial pipeline is the metaphorical aorta for the supply the most populated regions of the country, and you’ve lost 10 days of blood flow”, Kloza said.
“We do have the inventory to manage it for the time being, but we’re going to be under a fair bit of pressure, and the uncertainty isn’t helpful”, said Campbell.
The company said it is shipping as much gasoline as possible on its distillate mainline, Line 2, in order to mitigate the impact of the pipeline that has been shut down.
“But that gas is being pumped along with diesel and jet fuel”, said Gregg Laskoski, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.
Vickie Gaffin of Williamston filled the tank at the Hickory Point station on USA 29 and quickly noticed the price jump of almost 15 cents a gallon in two days.
The restart of the gasoline line was pushed to next week because of gasoline vapors at the site, the company said.
Colonial, the largest USA refined products pipeline system, last Friday shut its main gasoline and distillate lines that run from the Gulf Coast refining hub to the East Coast, after the leak was discovered in Shelby County, Alabama.
Gov. Bill Haslam issued an executive order Friday waiving hourly limits on fuel truck drivers in order to maintain adequate gas supply in Tennessee following a massive gas leak in Alabama.
The average price of regular grade gas in SC rose by four cents between September 9, when the pipeline was shut down, and Friday, according to GasBuddy.com.
Steve Clark didn’t like the price jump at the fuel pump Friday afternoon, but the Belton resident was braced for it.
The outage is expected to hit the East Coast and Southeast markets the most, as they rely heavily on Line 1 which brings gasoline from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina, and on another line that ends in Linden, New Jersey. However, metro Atlanta gets most of its fuel from Colonial, Laskoski said. He said price increases will not represent a trend. Thursday’s average fuel price in the Nashville area was $2.07 and that was up to $2.09 by midday Friday.
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A colonial spokesman said the company was still reviewing the PHMSA order.
