The 660,000 b/d Explorer pipeline, which transports refined products from the US Gulf coast to the midcontinent, is expected to shut down its main lines tomorrow because of a lack of product to pump.
Most of the Explorer system is still operating, despite Hurricane Harvey dumping more than 40 inches (102cm) of rain on parts of southeast Texas. Explorer transports gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and jet fuel on its 1,830-mile (2,945km) system. But now pipeline operators are running out of product.
"Our biggest impediment is lack of product to pump," Explorer vice president of operations Dolin Argo said. "Our system will run. Our 24-inch and 28-inch will run. We are going to run out of product to pump."
About 3mn b/d of refining capacity in the Houston area or about 16pc of the US total is off line or operating at reduced rates. Motiva said today it is operating its 600,000 b/d Port Arthur refinery, the US' largest refinery, at 60pc of capacity amid disruptions caused by Harvey.
The Explorer system begins in Port Arthur, Texas, with a 28-inch line that passes through Houston and connects to Pasadena, Texas. The line then connects to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and continues with a 24-inch line to Wood River, Illinois, for final delivery to Hammond, Indiana.
Explorer has been unable to get product out of Pasadena and, instead. has been running out of Port Arthur. But unless conditions change, pipeline officials expect that tomorrow product will run out, forcing Explorer to shut down its 28-inch and 24-inch lines.
And Argo said company officials do not know when Explorer will resume service on those lines.
Explorer also includes a 10-inch line between Houston and Arlington, Texas, that has been off line for about a day. Explorer is in the process of bringing that line back on line, Argo said.
Operations on other pipelines have also been affected. Magellan Midstream Partners suspended inbound and outbound crude and refined product shipments after Harvey struck the Texas coastline on 25 August. Those closures included the 400,000 b/d BridgeTex and 225,000 b/d Longhorn crude lines from the Permian basin into the Houston area.
