Hurricane spurs Florida fuel demand

OREANDA-NEWS. October 07, 2016. Florida gasoline demand surged today with major fuel ports shut and residents on its eastern coast evacuating ahead of the powerful Hurricane Matthew.

The state had six days of fuel supplies without resupply from closed ports, governor Rick Scott's office said today, down from eight days reported yesterday. Individual retail stores may run out of fuel but the Florida Petroleum Marketer's Association said the state remained sufficiently supplied overall.

"As important as it is to get gas to the gas stations, you can not put your truck drivers and your staff in harm's way when this massive storm is bearing down on Florida," spokesman James Miller said.

The storm pounded the Bahamas early today with 140 mph (220 kph) winds and heavy rain as it swept toward the US. Such wind speeds made Matthew a category 4 hurricane on a scale where 5 is the most powerful rating.

Buckeye Pipeline suspended marine operations at its Bahamas Hub, formerly known as Borco, yesterday, and Statoil evacuated non-essential workers from its South Riding Point storage and transhipment terminal on the island earlier this week.

Hurricane Matthew was expected to run along Florida's eastern coast starting late today. The storm has triggered evacuation orders in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Highways were reversed to allow a higher volume of traffic out of the region.

"There obviously has been a run on gas, as could be expected," Miller said in Florida. "I think it was more of a habit for people — people are concerned they'll be out of gas and there won't be any for days and days."

US air carriers cancelled more than 900 flights in the region. US Coast guard shut major southern ports including Port Everglades, while Port Tampa on the state's west coast continued to operate. Rail carrier CSX today planned to shut its its main line from the Orlando, Florida, area to Jacksonville. Service from Jacksonville to Savannah, Georgia, would be curtailed tomorrow.

Florida depends almost entire on marine deliveries of fuel and has no interstate products lines. Commercial storage at major ports still had days of fuel supply for the state, Miller said.

Power supplies and road conditions will be more important than physical supply following the storm. Distributors will have to determine which retail stations still have power and the safest ways to reach them. The association was working with the state's emergency management department to quickly resupply southern Florida after the storm passed, Miller said.

"That is always the hardest part, post-storm re-entery," he said.

Colonial Pipeline and Kinder Morgan, which move a combined 3mn b/d of products through the southeast, were monitoring the storm.