Colonial resumes Line 2 service after storm

Colonial Pipeline resumed normal operations along its main distillates-carrying line this morning after being shut the previous day from power outages brought on by tropical storm Nicholas' landfall along the Texas coast.

The company resumed operations at 9am ET on it's 1.2mn b/d distillates-carrying Line 2 between Houston and Greensboro, North Carolina. Line 1, which moves 1.5mn b/d of gasoline between the same locations resumed service on 14 September at 12:58pm ET.

Nicholas briefly became a hurricane before it came ashore at 1:30am ET near Freeport, Texas, with winds that knocked out power to more than 450,000 customers in the Houston area, according to utility provider CenterPoint Energy. Colonial said the power outages had prompted it to proactively shut the two lines.

Line 3, which moves products between Greensboro and Linden, New Jersey, and Line 4, which runs from Greensboro to Woodbine, Maryland, were not affected by the storm.

Colonial's 5,500-mile (8,850km) system moves fuel from the US Gulf coast to southeastern suppliers and into the New York Harbor market.

By Jason Metko