Houston, 5 November (Argus) — Operations are expected to return to normal in two to three weeks at Phillips 66's 238,000 b/d Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, the company said today.
The refiner has completed post-storm assessments at the facility and on 2 November reopened its Linden fuel terminal to wholesale customers. Service at the terminal is continuing to ramp up and will return to full operation by the end of the week. The site is currently open for tanker truck loading on a 24-hour basis.
That Linden terminal has adequate fuel supplies and has arranged for additional fuel will continue to arrive via third-party pipelines and marine transport, according to Phillips 66. The refiner is also working with US agencies to clean up about 185bl of spilled oil that was discovered at Bayway after floodwaters receded.
Colonial pipeline estimated five more terminals would return to service this week at New York Harbor as energy infrastructure flooded and left powerless by Hurricane Sandy slowly recovered.
The category 1 storm ravaged the New York harbor system a week ago, shutting down port traffic, terminals and pipelines for days. Infrastructure began to recover on 2 November and repairs continued over the weekend.
Buckeye has restarted its pipeline system delivering 500,000 b/d of fuel into the New York City area, and Colonial said customers were slowly returning to service on its 700,000 b/d Harbor system. The pipeline operator said seven of more than 20 customer terminals have resumed service.
Recovering companies included Kinder Morgan, BP and NuStar, which on 3 November restored all eight of its Linden terminal truck bays and continued to work on restoring barge and pipeline service.
Hess reported it began a days-long process of restarting on-site utilities at its 70,000 b/d cracking facility in Port Reading, New Jersey. The integrated company said it could not complete a damage assessment before restoring that power system. Phillips 66 offered no update to operations at its 250,000 b/d Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey — the region's second-largest refinery. The US Coast Guard said this morning cleanup of a 187 bl fuel spill was underway.
Environmental regulators expanded waivers to fuel requirements in the storm-sacked region. The US Environmental Protection Agency allowed the use of higher-sulfur heating oil in diesel generators and other equipment, and New York City health officials waived a 2pc biodiesel blending requirement for distillates used in the city.
The US Department of Energy offered portable generator help and other logistical assistance for retail gasoline operations in the region. The US Department of Defense may purchase up to 12mn USG of gasoline and 10mn USG of diesel to distribute throughout the region.
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