East Coast Refineries Struggle to Resume Full Operations in Wake of Sandy

Several East Coast refineries were struggling to resume full operations following Hurricane Sandy, as gasoline and diesel supplies in the New York and New Jersey region ran low and filling stations attempted to come back online in the two states, news services reported.

Hess Corp.’s Port Reading and Phillips 66’s Bayway refineries in New Jersey remained closed Monday even as power was restored or partially restored at the plants a week after the giant “superstorm” hit the U.S. East Coast in that state, Bloomberg reported.

Tank truckers, who carry up to 8,500 gallons of fuel, were coping with delays picking up supplies in New Jersey, where about half of the state’s 2,400 filling stations were still without power as of Sunday afternoon, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.

Motorists and people seeking gasoline for generators waited in mile-long lines in the state over the weekend, as Gov. Chris Christie implemented a rationing system based on license plate numbers, which helped alleviate some lines, the newspaper reported on its website.

Four marine tankers anchored in New York Harbor began transferring refined-fuel shipments to smaller barges for delivery over the weekend, Reuters reported, citing the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Department of Defense sent fuel supplies to New York over the weekend, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it would be a “couple of days” before the regional fuel shortage is fully resolved, the Wall Street Journal reported.

With temperatures falling, two New York City terminals with heating oil supplies opened Sunday and barges were expected to deliver heating oil to terminals in the city’s Brooklyn borough, Reuters reported.

Diesel and heating oil are both distillate fuels and often compete for base fuel stock in the winter months.

The East Coast outages came as regional gasoline and diesel supplies were near all-time lows, Reuters reported, adding that East Coast gasoline inventories hit a record low for October in the first week of the month and distillate supplies were at a seven-year low three weeks ago.

Weather forecasters, meanwhile, kept watch on a Nor’easter they said was likely to hit New Jersey on Wednesday or Thursday, though the storm system was not expected to be anywhere near the strength of Sandy.