Florida officials are dispatching previously stockpiled fuel to retail stations throughout the state as hundreds of thousands of residents flee the western coast ahead of Hurricane Milton.
Florida had more than 110,000 USG of gasoline and 268,000 USG of diesel on hand ahead of the storm and another 1.2mn USG of both en route to the state, governor Ron DeSantis (R) said today. The state has been dispatching those reserves to gas stations that have run out of fuel as residents evacuate coastal areas ahead of Milton, which is expected to come ashore late Wednesday near Tampa as a major storm.
The Florida Highway Patrol late Monday escorted 27 fuel trucks to fuel stations in the anticipated path of Milton, and the state is working with fuel sellers Racetrac, Wawa, Shell and Walmart to maintain supplies, DeSantis said.
Panic buying in southwest Florida led some gas stations to run out of fuel as early as Monday, according to a wholesaler operating in the region.
Florida is the third largest US state by both population and gasoline demand, consuming about 600,000 b/d in 2022, according the US Energy Information Administration. The stockpiles and additional supply en route DeSantis outlined would be equal to about about 31,000 bls, or 5pc of daily demand.
Despite the need to dispatch the fuel DeSantis insists "there is no fuel shortage … fuel continues to arrive in the state of Florida," but lines at gas stations are long and demand is depleting reserves faster than normal.
Florida has no refineries and imports all its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel by truck and ship, meaning it can face significant disruption if ports and roadways are closed by a storm. Florida's fuels infrastructure was quick to recover last year in the aftermath of category 3 Hurricane Idalia, but this year's storm looks set to bring greater damage.
Bigger fuel issues ahead for Tampa
"We are assuming … that there is going to be significant damage to the port of Tampa," affecting the port's ability to receive fuel shipments after Milton passes through, DeSantis said today.
Ports on Florida's Gulf coast from Tampa to Fort Myers Beach closed at 8am ET today ahead of the expected landfall.
Kinder Morgan is planning to shut its terminals and fuel racks in Tampa today. Kinder's Tampa refined products terminal has 1.8mn bls of storage and is connected to the Central Florida Pipeline (CFPL) which transports gasoline, diesel, ethanol and jet fuel to Orlando, including to Orlando International Airport. The airport said today that it will cease operations the morning of 9 October.
Citgo is also shutting down its Tampa fuels terminal, the company said early today. The terminal imports waterborne ultra low sulfur diesel and gasoline.
ExxonMobil said it is closely monitoring the situation and its Ft Lauderdale terminal on the Atlantic coast side of the state and south of the expected hurricane landfall zone is operating as normal.
Hillsborough County issued a mandatory evacuation order Monday for coastal residents along Tampa Bay. Much of Pinellas County on the western side of the Tampa Bay is also under a mandatory evacuation order.
