Florida stations refueling as Hurricane moves up coast

OREANDA-NEWS. October 10, 2016. The state of Florida is working to quickly refuel gasoline stations that experienced shortages as Hurricane Matthew travels up the east coast of the state.

Florida is working with suppliers to increase the number of trucks moving fuel from ports to retail locations, governor Rick Scott's office said today. The current fuel supply in the state will last for nearly 5 days, even if all ports are temporarily closed. Florida depends almost entirely on marine deliveries of fuel and has no interstate products pipelines.

The storm knocked out power for about 826,000 customers, the governor's office said.

The hurricane is not expected to have a long lasting impact on gasoline supply in Florida, with regional supply being relatively strong. There was a brief increase in gasoline prices as pre-storm demand was driven by companies looking to keep their storage tanks full to avoid damage from potential storm surge.

Hurricane Matthew was downgraded to a category 3 Hurricane early this morning. Earlier this week it pounded the Bahamas with 140 mph (220 kph) winds and heavy rain. It also hit Haiti, where the death toll is climbing into the 100s.

Buckeye Pipeline suspended marine operations at its Bahamas Hub oil and products terminal, formerly known as Borco, on 5 October, and Statoil evacuated non-essential workers from its South Riding Point storage and transshipment terminal on the island earlier this week. The companies have not provided updates to their operations.

The storm has triggered evacuation orders in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Highways were reversed to allow a higher volume of traffic out of the region.

US air carriers cancelled more than 1,130 flights because of the storm and more than 1,000 have been delayed today, according to data provider FlightStats.