Florida ports, fuel supplies, begin recovery: Update 2

Market: Fertilizers, Oil products
10/10/24

Updates more port and terminal conditions, adds daily CBOB/ULSD prices.

Port Tampa Bay, Florida, docks did not sustain significant damage from Hurricane Milton, the port authority said Thursday, a positive sign for resuming fuel imports into the storm ravaged state.

Some port buildings were damaged and power remains out, according to preliminary assessments, but the port docks appear to have escaped major damage, according to the port authority. Many roads leading to the port remain flooded, but the port's main gates are accessible. There is no current timeline for the port's re-opening.

Damage to Global Partners' Florida fuel terminals is less severe than the company expected, a spokesperson said Thursday afternoon. Global is loading cargoes from its three Port Everglades terminals. Its Tampa terminal is offline and running on generator power due to power outages, but staff are on site working to restore operations.

Kinder Morgan is continuing to assess its terminals and pipeline, a spokesperson said Thursday afternoon.

Chevron's Tampa refined products terminal remains closed and damage assessments will begin once crews can safely access the facility, a company spokesperson said Thursday morning. The company's terminals in Panama City and Port Everglades are operational.

Citgo said it found no major damage at its Tampa terminal after an initial assessment but a more detailed inspection is ongoing as it works to restore operations.

Buckeye, which shut Tampa terminals ahead of the hurricane, did not immediately respond to requests for information on the status of its operations.

Tampa spared the worst

Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday that Port Tampa avoided the worst-case scenario in terms of storm surge and that eastern Florida ports on the opposite side of the state from where Milton made landfall appear largely undamaged.

Nearly half of Florida's supply of petroleum and refined products passes through Port Tampa Bay, the majority via waterborne cargo from the US Gulf coast. Tampa Bay is also the site of major fertilizer operations, including Mosaic's Riverview phosphate plant.

The state has 1.5mn USG of diesel and about 1.1mn USG of gasoline available to deploy in its emergency response, DeSantis said. Florida's highway patrol continues to escort fuel tankers making deliveries to gas stations and has completed about 130 escorts after some stations ran dry earlier this week as Floridians stocked up on fuel and evacuated coastal regions.

DeSantis said he expects gas stations to reopen "very quickly, at least that's our hope."

Prices for Florida CBOB delivered at Tampa and Port Everglades rose by 8.51¢/USG to $2.17/USG today while prices for Florida ULSD rose by 7.09¢/USG to $2.39/USG. Cash differentials in the waterborne ULSD markets and gasoline cargo markets were little changed.

About 3.4mn Floridians were without power early today after Hurricane Milton came ashore south of Tampa Bay late Wednesday night as a category 3 storm.

Utility crews are assessing the damage from high winds, tornadoes and flooding, and starting to restore power. The number of customers without power dipped below 3mn Thursday afternoon.

Restrictions were lifted Thursday at a number of Florida ports closed for the storm, the Coast Guard said, while others are expected to open in the next day.

By Nathan Risser and Cooper Sukaly

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