Colonial Pipeline to Restore Full Operations After Hurricane Harvey

By Brad Kramer September 5, 2017 View Profile

A key gasoline supply pipeline for the South and Eastern United States is expected to restart service Sept. 5 after damage from Hurricane Harvey. The Colonial Pipeline announced that it is working to make repairs and restore service following historic flooding along the Gulf Coast last week.

Colonial Pipeline transports more than 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, home heating oil, aviation fuel and other refined petroleum products. Starting in Houston and terminating at the New York harbor, the system consists of more than 5,500 miles of pipeline, connecting the U.S. refinery region of the Gulf Coast with customers throughout South and the Eastern United States.

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As of Sept. 4, Colonial Pipeline’s Line 2 had been restarted between Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to a company statement. Line 1 remains operational from Lake Charles east, and the company said it remains on schedule to restart the Houston to Lake Charles segment of the line on Sept. 5.

Colonial Pipeline Co. is a privately held company with headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia. Originally founded by nine oil companies in 1962, today Colonial is owned by CDPQ Colonial Partners LP, IFM (US) Colonial Pipeline 2 LLC, KKR-Keats Pipeline Investors LP, Koch Capital Investments Co. LLC and Shell Pipeline Co. LP. Colonial is providing daily updates to its Hurricane Harvey response at harvey.colonialresponse.com.

As of Sept. 3, nine refineries in Texas that supply Colonial with gas were closed because of Harvey, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. While Colonial has restarted its pipeline east of Texas, but pumping has been intermittent.

The closed refineries in the Gulf region have a combined refining capacity 24.3 percent of total Gulf Coast refining capacity and 12.7 percent of total U.S. refining capacity, according to the DOE.

Meanwhile, national gasoline have climbed to record highs this year to $2.62 per gallon for regular gas, an increase of 30 cents to prices before Harvey hit, according to travel guide AAA.