Colonial Pipeline’s Line 1 outage has slashed gasoline rack activity in several key cities in the southeastern U.S., according to Genscape’s Supply Side data. Various media reports of unbranded racks shuttering in Colonial Pipeline-supplied cities were supported by Genscape daily rack level gasoline data.
Several states in the southeastern U.S. were affected by the Line 1 outage, including Georgia, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina (see graph). Line 1, a 1.3 million bpd line, carries gasoline from Pasadena, TX, to Greensboro, NC. The effects of the outage on rack cities supplied by spurs off Colonial’s Line 1 appear to be more pronounced.
Colonial Pipeline shut parts of Line 1 September 9 due to a 252,000 gallon (6,000 barrels) leak, affecting deliveries in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the company said in a bulletin to shippers viewed by Genscape. Colonial said it expects the line to resume service next week. The company is pumping gasoline on Line 2, typically a distillate line, it said.
Rack activity in Georgia appeared to recover during the weekend. Atlanta, GA rack activity was only down two percent Sunday, September 18 from the previous week. By comparison, Atlanta rack volumes Thursday, September 15 and Friday, September 16 were 26 percent and 19 percent below the previous week. This recovery was likely thanks to waterborne deliveries into Savannah, GA, and Colonial allowing gasoline to move on Line 2, a 1.1 million bpd distillate line that twins Line 1.
Genscape tanker data showed that the Ohio, a Jones Act clean products tanker, was diverted from New York into Savannah last week. It loaded on Sunday, September 12 at Valero's Texas City, TX, refinery and partially discharged (about 275,000 barrels) at the Colonial Oil Terminal in Savannah on Sunday, September 18, before heading to Charleston, SC. The cargo was reported to be gasoline, according to market sources.
Activity in other Georgia rack cities that are supplied by Colonial – Athens, Bainbridge, Columbus, and Macon – also showed significant recovery over the weekend. On Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18, Athens total gasoline rack volumes were up 47 percent and 42 percent, respectively, week-on-week. On Friday, September 16, Athens rack activity was down 10 percent from the previous week.
However, the Colonial outage still affected total gasoline rack activity in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Nashville, TN, rack activity was the hardest hit with Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18 volumes 69 percent and 62 percent below week-ago levels. In Chattanooga, total gasoline rack activity over the weekend was 50 percent (Saturday) and 38 percent (Sunday) below levels seen the previous week. Most Tennessee rack cities depend on gasoline supply from spur lines off Colonial Pipeline’s Line 1 mainline and Kinder Morgan’s Plantation pipeline. Nashville, however, does not have Plantation connectivity.
In South Carolina, North Augusta was affected the most by the outage, with Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18 gasoline rack activity 73 percent and 74 percent below the previous week. North Augusta does not have access to Plantation; it only has connectivity to Colonial’s Line 1 via a spur from Belton, SC.
Also, the Colonial Line 1 outage continued to affect rack activity in North Carolina, where Lines 1 and 2 terminate at Greensboro and the northern-origin Lines 3 and 4 begin. In Selma, total gasoline rack volumes were 30 percent (Saturday) and 48 percent (Sunday) below the previous week. Greensboro rack activity Saturday, September 17 was as much as 43 percent below week ago levels, but slightly recovered Sunday, September 18 to 16 percent below the previous week. On Saturday, September 17, Fayetteville gasoline rack activity was more than 40 percent below the previous week, but recovered Sunday, September 18 to 35 percent above the previous Sunday.
Colonial Pipeline's Line 1 outage also affected total U.S. rack activity for the week ending September 16. Average total gasoline rack activity fell to 6.406 million bpd, the lowest level since the week of April 29, according to Genscape Supply Side data.
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