Colonial Shutdown: All Markets to Receive Products by Midday Thursday

Thursday, May 13, 2021 | 10:04:42 AM EDT

Colonial Pipeline said early Thursday it has made “substantial progress” in restarting the largest U.S. refined product pipeline system and that product delivery has begun in most markets, and the company now expects each of the
markets it serves will receive products by midday Thursday.

A system restart update map accompanying the online statement shows that segments that are expected to be operational by midday Thursday include a portion of Colonial’s main lines near Birmingham, Alabama, Line 4 between Greensboro, North Carolina and Dorsey in Central Maryland, as well as smaller spur line near Baltimore, Maryland and Selma, North Carolina.

The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company’s latest announcement came a day after Colonial said it initiated a restart of pipeline operations around 5:00 p.m. ET Wednesday, following a six-day outage that has roiled Southeastern gasoline markets and called attention to the vulnerability of the United States’ energy infrastructure.

U.S. refined product futures dived on the latest Colonial news. At 9:34 a.m. ET, NYMEX June RBOB gasoline futures tumbled 5.30cts/gal, to $2.1080/gal on CME Globex, and June ultra-low-sulfur diesel was down 5.40cts/gal, at  $2.0155/gal.