Pipeline Problems Could be Short Lived at Charlotte Pumps

CHARLOTTE, NC — A pipeline explosion in Alabama is causing some southern discomfort at gas pumps across the Carolinas.

Gasoline futures are up 13%, and prices at pumps in the Charlotte area are climbing. But experts say this time will not be a repeat of what happened in September.

“For the time being, it’s looking like we may have dodged a bullet,” says Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for Gasbuddy.com.

That is the good news.

Monday’s Colonial Pipeline explosion in Alabama has drivers in the Carolinas remembering a 12-day disruption in fuel supply from September, after a massive leak and spill. Prices spiked. And some stations ran out of gas.

“We started off yesterday morning thinking it’s going to be much worse than what happened in September,” says DeHaan. “But then Colonial Pipeline, about midday, said the pipeline could restart as soon as this weekend.”

DeHaan feels fears that this shutdown could be felt for weeks to come may be unfounded.

The pipeline consists of two lines, pumping more than a 100 million gallons per day. Both were down after the explosion., but some fuel is moving through line number two now. And Colonial says line one could be repaired by Saturday.

Experts say prices may go up a little in the meantime, but that’s mostly due to increased, unnecessary demand.

“A way we can kind of combat that is if we don’t overindulge at the pump,” says Tiffany Wright with AAA Carolinas. “You know it’s kind of like the whole bread and milk scenario at the grocery store when we hear about a storm. Folks panic at the pump when something like this happens.”

Despite the quick fix this time, there are major concerns, after two failures in two months, with the 52-year-old pipeline supplying about a third of the fuel consumed on the East Coast.

“To give you some sense of how big that is, the same amount of gasoline via tanker truck, it would take over 12,000 tanker trucks every day to deliver the same amount of volume,” says DeHaan.

Experts say the Colonial Pipeline is essential, because refineries on the East Coast cannot produce enough fuel to keep up with the demand of a heavy population.