Line 1 of the Colonial Pipeline which runs from Houston, Texas to Greenville, North Carolina was shut down on September 9 after a leak was detected in Shelby, Alabama. The spill was the largest in the line in 20 years.
The six states, including Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and North Carolina are all facing gas shortages and higher prices at the pump. North Carolina’s governor declared a state of emergency to “help ensure that there will be adequate supplies of fuel across the state and prevent excessive fuel pricing.”
On the day the leak was detected, gasoline was discharged from an underground 36-inch pipeline into a nearby pond. As of yesterday, 230,000 gallons of gasoline mixed with water had been removed but progress is very slow because of the highly flammable vapors.
On Friday, Colonial Pipeline officials said they would not be opening their primary pipeline until sometime next week, according to ABC News. Line 1 is one of two major pipelines that connect over two dozen refineries in Texas and Louisiana with cities in the Eastern part of the country, supplying 40 percent of the region’s gasoline.
Futures contracts on wholesale gasoline rose two percent on Friday to $1.46 per gallon after rising five percent on Thursday. Social media users have already taken to the Internet to document the long lines, dwindling gas supplies, and chaos at many gas stations.
CNBC is reporting that Andy Lipow, the president of Lipow Oil Associates. is forecasting a 10 cent per gallon jump at the gas pump, which is really not that bad, considering how low the price has dropped for a gallon of gas lately.
Analysts still expect to see some of the lowest gasoline prices in years, especially for this time of year due to a supply glut of refined products and crude oil.
“We really don’t know exactly when Colonial is going to get started back,” Lipow said. “By Sunday, you might see some brown paper bags on gas pumps.”
