US expands Colonial Pipeline relief waivers: Update

Adds detail from US officials.

Federal regulators expanded fuel and trucking rule waivers for broad swaths of the southeastern US to stretch fuel supplies cut off by the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.

Operators of the 5,500-mile (8,851km) pipeline system supplying nearly half of the fuels consumed on the US Atlantic coast will know by the end of today whether they can restart operations this week.

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) late yesterday expanded waivers of summer fuel quality requirements to parts of twelve states and the District of Columbia. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) allowed the transport of overweight loads of fuel in ten southeastern states to allow supply without the use of the pipeline network.

"It does expand the fuel supply," EPA administrator Michael Regan said today. "It allows for fuels to be moved around more freely in the region and it does relieve some of that tension, and so we will continue to work close with our states and our partners to ensure that we are taking all of the actions that we can to alleviate some of these situations."

The DOT also said today it finished a review of US-flagged and crewed vessels available to carry petroleum products and is ready to review any temporary waiver requests from the Jones Act to move fuel to the affected region.

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg declined to comment on whether the department had received requests for such waivers. Foreign-flagged vessels with options to move between US ports to the US Atlantic coast have been booked.

Colonial Pipeline entered its sixth day since operators shut down flows to halt a ransomware infection from reaching the control systems for infrastructure able to move more than 2.5mn b/d of fuel. Smaller stublines and terminals have resumed some operation with available inventory, but the largest gasoline and diesel pipelines moving output from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi refineries remain offline.

The expanded federal waivers allow for the use of higher volatility, higher Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) gasoline out of season in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, northern Florida, and in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The changes should allow for more flexibility in supplies between regions. That includes the use of higher-RVP gasoline blendstocks and additional butane to extend the available supply.

The transportation department waivers allowing heavier loads of fuel apply to ten states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia.

By Elliott Blackburn