The Gas Crunch: Colonial Pipeline operational...

[TexasLady]

The Colonial Pipeline is now resuming pipeline operations. This is in steps, but at least they are steps in the right direction, here is a quote from the Colonial website (http://www.colpipe.com/press_release/pr_74.asp):

"Colonial Pipeline has successfully completed restart of Main Lines 1
and 2 and safely resumed partial service around 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005. Original estimates of 25% to 35% of
normal operational capacity for initial return to service have been
exceeded, and Colonial is now operating at about 38% capacity.

With the return to service of additional electrical power in Mississippi
later today, Colonial anticipates that it will be able to operate at
approximately 61% of normal capacity by the end of today (Thursday,
9/1/05.) Both gasoline and distillates are currently being transported
and delivered."


I would think that this would alleviate some of the fears of "shortages", and also "rationing". The refineries in the N.O. area are still, of course, non-functioning. However, with the reinstatement of this major pipeline, supplies should slowly start to resume from the other refineries on the Gulf Coast.

[NFLnut]

You know, all of the doom and gloom and the people NOT in the affected area (like Florida, Georgia, etc) who are in panic mode lining up at gas stations (and ultimately 'driving' the "shortage" into reality) need to remember that we still have about 140 or so refineries around the nation that are still operational! (That's out of some 150 before the storm).

[webke]

One item to remember the Colonial Pipeline feeds the Northeast, it is the Plantation pipeline that feeds the Southeast and that is scheduled to be up by next Tuesday.

[tim_in_ga]

You know, all of the doom and gloom and the people NOT in the affected area (like Florida, Georgia, etc) who are in panic mode lining up at gas stations (and ultimately 'driving' the "shortage" into reality) need to remember that we still have about 140 or so refineries around the nation that are still operational! (That's out of some 150 before the storm).

But they get their gas from these particular pipelines. It's not like those of us in Georgia can choose where to get the gas. It comes out of the pipeline, gets stored in a tank farm in Doraville, GA, and is then trucked to the gas stations. Other refineries won't help in the short term.

[NFLnut]

You know, all of the doom and gloom and the people NOT in the affected area (like Florida, Georgia, etc) who are in panic mode lining up at gas stations (and ultimately 'driving' the "shortage" into reality) need to remember that we still have about 140 or so refineries around the nation that are still operational! (That's out of some 150 before the storm).

But they get their gas from these particular pipelines. It's not like those of us in Georgia can choose where to get the gas. It comes out of the pipeline, gets stored in a tank farm in Doraville, GA, and is then trucked to the gas stations. Other refineries won't help in the short term.

It is currently being trucked in. This will lead to a short term spike in prices to pay for transport (in addition to the other factors) until the pipelines are fully functioning.

[webke]

One item to remember the Colonial Pipeline feeds the Northeast, it is the Plantation pipeline that feeds the Southeast and that is scheduled to be up by next Tuesday.

[kevin]

Got all the gas I could at current prices for our corporation and personal use. I will never do what would be reasonable for the economy, but only what is reasonable for myself. Since scarcity will occur, we decided to get as much gas as possible. The price isn't going down.

[wwicko]

You know, all of the doom and gloom and the people NOT in the affected area (like Florida, Georgia, etc) who are in panic mode lining up at gas stations (and ultimately 'driving' the "shortage" into reality) need to remember that we still have about 140 or so refineries around the nation that are still operational! (That's out of some 150 before the storm).

Although that is true, people in the industry have been reporting for many months that US refining capacity is maxed out. Many analysts conclude that the recent (pre-Katrina) price rises are due more to inadequate US refining capacity than to unavailability of crude oil. No one really knows for sure which factor is more significant, but in recent years incidents of unexpected refinery maintenance in the US has led to gasoline price spikes. Maybe the spikes were due to traders profiteering. Its very difficult to tease out the siginificance of any one of the many factors that determine price at a given point in time.

(This topic always seems to lead to ideological driven pre-programmed statements blaming environmentalists for preventing refineries from being built, or blaming CEO's and market forces for not building the refineries demanded by the market This is my attempt to pre-empt such simple minded mush from clogging this thread).