Colonial issued this map of its pipeline closures Thursday.A major pipeline that supplies East Coast states with diesel fuel has been temporarily shut down due to oil refinery closures stemming from Hurricane Harvey. Colonial Pipeline Co., who operates one of the country’s largest and most vital fuel-supplying lines that runs from Houston to Maine, announced the line outage Thursday.
The line is shut down from Houston to Hebert, Texas, Colonial said Thursday. But it expects to return to service on Sunday. There are also injection points east of the shutdown, meaning some fuel is still flowing through the pipelines, though not at its normal capacity. Colonial did not say at what percentage the lines east of the closure are operating.
The disruption isn’t expected to affect fuel supply or diesel pricing, given it’s only expected to be temporary. A longer disruption, however, could prompt diesel supply issues and higher prices.
The damage inflicted by Harvey is already expected to cause a nationwide spike in diesel prices, maybe as much as 15-25 cents a gallon, given the impacts on the region’s refineries.
