U.S. pump prices rise as
Colonial preps gasoline line restart
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[September 21, 2016]
By Devika Krishna Kumar
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gasoline prices in
the southeast United States kept rising on Monday as Colonial
Pipeline Co worked to fix a more-than-week long disruption on a key
gasoline line due to a leak that has led to long lines and
complaints of price gouging.
The leak, which was discovered on Sept. 9, released about 6,000 to
8,000 barrels (252,000-336,000 gallons) of gasoline in Shelby
County, Alabama. The partial shutdown of the damaged Line 1, which
carries about 1.3 million barrels per day of gasoline from the
refining hub on the Gulf Coast to the East Coast, also roiled
markets.
Retail gasoline prices in Georgia, one of the hardest hit states,
jumped nearly 6 cents overnight to Monday, or more than 20 cents
higher than a week ago, to $2.316 a gallon on average, according to
motorists' advocacy group AAA.
Richard Parks, 32, an electrician in Atlanta, said he saw the price
of regular gas jump at a Shell Station in East Atlanta to $2.69 on
Monday from $2.51 on Sunday.
"I didn't think it would get worse overnight, but it just did,"
Parks said while waiting in a line to refuel on Monday.
Benchmark gasoline futures fell 2 percent on Monday to $1.4318 a
gallon, after having risen 9 percent in the week following the leak.
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Availability of fuel has varied across the region, with long lines
seen throughout Atlanta, as well as in Nashville, Tennessee. Pump
prices in Alabama ticked up to $2.01 on Monday while prices in
Tennessee rose nearly 3 cents to $2.13 from $2.10 on Sunday,
according to the AAA.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said during a press conference
Monday he was "concerned" about the amount of gasoline the state has
and said Colonial's chief executive told him Monday that the line
would likely restart this week.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed an executive order on Monday
preventing gas stations from significantly raising their fuel
prices.
In North Carolina, more than 400 consumers had filed complaints to
report potential gas price gouging to Cooper's Consumer Protection
Division as of 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on Monday, State Attorney
General Roy Cooper said.
Many states have also allowed for an extension of the maximum number
of hours truck drivers are allowed to drive in order to deliver gas
products to the state.
RELIEF SUPPLIES
Colonial, which has not said what caused the leak, resumed repairs
on Friday after vapors delayed work and it projects a full restart
by this week. The company is constructing a bypass that circumvents
the damaged line.
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![](../images/092116pics/busine5.jpg)
Out of fuel signs are pictured on gas pumps at a Twice Daily Shell
station on West End Ave. and N. 17th Ave. S. in Nashville,
Tennessee, U.S. September 17, 2016. REUTERS/David Mudd
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The bypass line will be about 500- to 700-feet (150-210 m) long and will
essentially have the same specifications as the main line in terms of pressure
and capacity, a spokesman said via email. However, the bypass will sit above the
ground while the permanent solution will include a fully operational submerged
line, he said.
Colonial, the largest U.S. refined products pipeline system of about 2.6 million
bpd, said on Monday it gathered gasoline from Gulf Coast refiners last week to
transport the fuel on its distillate line to markets throughout the region.
A spokeswoman for Marathon Petroleum Corp, a shipper on Colonial and the
operator of Speedway convenience stores, which are located throughout the U.S.
East Coast, said the company was using additional shipping methods including
barges, trucking and ocean vessels to manage supply.
Larry Carr, 44, an Atlanta private contractor, was filling gasoline containers
and piling them into the back of his Ford Explorer van just after topping up his
tank at a station in the Grant Park neighborhood where it cost $2.49 for regular
self-serve.
"Normally it would cost me $40 to fill her up, but today it cost $60 and I
wasn’t even near empty," he said. Of the gasoline cans, he said: "I'm going to
take some of this to a friend who ran out of gas and get her going again."
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar, Jarrett Renshaw and David Gaffen in New York
and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Bill Trott and Marguerita Choy)
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