Idalia Disrupts Fuel Station Operations in Florida, Other Southeast States -- OPIS
31 Août 2023 - 9:53PM
Dow Jones News
Gasoline demand at many service stations in Florida and other
Southeast states affected by Hurricane Idalia was down sharply on
Wednesday as many motorists rode out the storm that brought
widespread flooding and wind damage across the region, OPIS retail
data showed.
The number of gas stations in Florida considered as open on
Wednesday was 25% to 35% below the number on Tuesday, according to
OPIS' retail data. In Florida's Big Bend coastal area, where Idalia
made landfall early Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, and in regions
to the north, many gas stations that were open at midday Tuesday
were inactive on Wednesday.
Stations in other areas along Florida's west coast also reported
less activity on Wednesday. Gas station business in Pinellas
County, which forms the western border of Tampa Bay, Marion County,
which includes Gainesville, and Manatee County, home to Sarasota,
reported declines of 68%, 50% and 52% by midday Wednesday compared
with Tuesday.
OPIS data also showed that as of 8 a.m. ET Thursday, 4,727
stations in Florida were considered active, down 30% from the same
time on Tuesday.
The number of service stations operating Wednesday in parts of
Georgia and the Carolinas also were down significantly from
Tuesday, though the declines were less than in Florida, according
to OPIS data.
OPIS, which collects gas station activities every four hours,
considers a retail fuel station active when a payment card was
swiped in the previous four-hour period. OPIS tracks more than
30,000 gas stations across the U.S.
Ned Bowman, executive director at the Florida Petroleum
Marketers Association, said that while some gas stations in Big
Bend were running on backup power, most others had reopened by
Thursday. Stations along Florida's busy I-10 corridor have had
steady fuel supply and were mostly unaffected by the hurricane, he
said.
Bowman said Idalia should not significantly affect fuel demand
in Florida over the upcoming extended Labor Day weekend, except in
some coastal and island communities such as Cedar City that were
hard hit by Idalia.
"The rest of the state is wide open," he said.
Most product terminals have reopened after closing briefly
Wednesday. Sources told OPIS that while Chevron's Tampa terminal
did not have power as of early Thursday, most of the others are up
and running.
Kinder Morgan said its facilities in Tampa and Charleston, S.C.,
had resumed operations by Thursday. The company said it is
assessing its facilities in Wilmington, N.C. and expects to reopen
there on Friday morning.
Ahead of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall along Florida's
southwest coast less than 11 months ago as a Category 4 storm,
gasoline demand in the state rose by 16.7% from the previous week
as residents filled up their tanks, OPIS Demand Pro data showed. In
the following week, demand had fallen by nearly 18%.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which
is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from
Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff
Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 31, 2023 15:38 ET (19:38 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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