MOSCOW (MRC) -- Colonial Pipeline, the nation's largest fuel line, has resumed operations on its Line 1 refined products pipeline, while Line 2 remains down because of power outages caused by Hurricane Nicholas, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement Sept. 14.
"Colonial Pipeline has begun receiving product from shippers impacted by power outages in the Houston-area," Colonial said in an update on the T4 shipper bulletin. "As a result, we have resumed operations on Main Line 01 -- based on volume availability. Main Line 02 remains down, but we will resume operations once product is made available."
Lines 3 and 4 are operating normally, the company said.
Colonial Pipeline is a major supplier of refined products for the East Coast, carrying 1.5 million b/d of gasoline products from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina, on Line 1 and 885,000 b/d of refined products on Line 2 from Greensboro, North Carolina, into New York Harbor.
US Atlantic Coast gasoline and diesel inventories are tight, which has already largely been priced into the market. However, any extended pipeline outages would be bullish for the New York-delivered NYMEX refined products.
USAC gasoline inventories have fallen 16.6 million barrels since late June to 54.1 million barrels, putting stocks at 15% below the five-year average, US Energy Information Administration data shows.
Nicholas made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula at about 1:30 am EDT on Sept. 14, and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Atlantic Coast gasoline sources said that there were no supply concerns currently regarding the shutdown of the two lines.
So far no Houston-area refiners have reported problems with operations because of the tropical storm.
As MRC wrote before, in early September, 2021, Colonial Pipeline restarted its main gasoline and distillate lines after it shut the lines as a safety precaution ahead of Hurricane Ida.
We remind that the fourth-largest US refiner Phillips 66 said earlier this month that it put the smaller of its two Louisiana refineries up for sale amid continued losses and an uncertain future for motor fuels. The company is holding talks with a potential buyer on the sale of its 255,600 barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, according to two people familiar with the matter. The identity of the potential buyer could not immediately be learned. US refiners have closed or sold oil processing plants as the COVID-19 pandemic slashed demand for gasoline and jet fuel, generating losses for the industry.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
mrcpalst.com