Colonial Pipeline restarts largest US fuel conduit after brief system-wide outage

By Shariq Khan

Colonial Pipeline has restarted operations after taking the largest U.S. fuel conduit offline earlier on Thursday for unplanned system maintenance, a company spokesperson confirmed.

Reuters earlier reported Colonial's main fuel delivery lines had been offline since around 5 a.m. ET on Thursday, according to market sources. Colonial confirmed the outage and said it was informing customers that it expects to restart before noon ET.

Colonial Pipeline moves over 2.5 million barrels per day of fuel across its 5,500-mile network stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to major consumption centres across the U.S. East Coast, according to its website.

The company says its pipelines are responsible for transporting about 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast.

In the past, prolonged outages, including one on the pipeline's main gasoline line earlier this year, have led to fuel shortages in some locations and caused prices to increase.

However, Thursday's outage was not expected to have a price impact because it was brief, said Tom Kloza, analyst for consultancy Turner, Mason & Co.

The timing of the outage, coinciding with most markets easing vapor pressure restrictions on gasoline for the winter, also dulls the impact of the interruption, Kloza said.

The U.S. allows refiners to make and sell a more volatile blend of gasoline in the winter, compared to what is allowed in the summer, making the fuel cheaper.