Idalia Disrupts Fuel Terminal Operations in Florida, Other Southeast States — OPIS

Some refined product terminals in Florida and states to its north have been closed by Hurricane Idalia, which has interrupted fuel supply and demand in the region.

Several fuel terminals in Jacksonville and Tampa were closed ahead of Idalia, which made landfall at 7:45 a.m. ET along the coast of the Florida Big Bend as a Category 3 storm.

A source reported that Motiva Enterprises Tampa terminal was under water as Idalia brought strong storm surges to a large swath of Florida's west coast. Motiva could not be reached for comment.

Sources also told OPIS that some Florida terminals have reopened as Idalia continued to travel toward coastal Georgia and the Carolinas, while coastal terminals in those states have said they are halting operations ahead of the storm.

Apex Oil's terminal in Jacksonville and Murphy USA's terminal in Tampa Bay reported restarting operations by midday Wednesday.

Kinder Morgan Inc. said in a Wednesday statement that all Tampa facilities including its Tampa refined products terminal and Central Florida Pipeline system have resumed normal operations. The company also said that while it has taken steps to protect its Products (SE) Pipe Line system in the path of Idalia, it does not expect significant impacts.

The company said its Port Manatee, Port Sutton and Tampaplex terminals experienced "minimal damage" and should reopen on Thursday. In addition, Kinder Morgan said it is planning to shut its terminals in Charleston, S.C., later Wednesday, but expects to resume service Thursday following inspections.

Some Florida terminals have reported supply issues such as allocation, loading delays, with some running out of products days ahead of Idalia's arrival.

Fuel supplier Mansfield Energy on Wednesday asked its customer to provide 72-hour notice for new deliveries in Florida, southern Georgia (south of Macon) and the coastal Carolinas. The company told customers fuel markets in the storm's path are "effectively closed."

The Department of Energy said the Florida ports of Jacksonville, Canaveral, Tampa, Manatee, Panama City, along with the port in Savannah, Ga., were closed Wednesday, while the ports of Pensacola, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., have had imposed restrictions on their operations. Earlier Wednesday, OPIS reported that the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of Charleston, S.C. ordered the port to close at noon ET.

As of 7:30 a.m., DOE said there were about 126,000 customers without electricity in Florida.

In addition, governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky declared states of emergency orders earlier this week, a move that, among other things, exempts fuel tanker truck drivers from hours-of-service limits. EPA has waived federal regulations to permit Florida fuel companies to sell 11.5lb RVP gasoline (12.5lb RVP if the gasoline contains between 9% and 15% ethanol) through Sept. 15.

Florida has no refineries or interstate refined product pipelines, meaning that gasoline in most of the state is delivered by waterborne shipments from refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, supplemented with imports from abroad.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 30, 2023 14:34 ET (18:34 GMT)

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