1. What kinds of petroleum products are transported by Colonial?
   
2. How big are batches?
   
3. What is the difference between fungible and segregated products?
   
4. What are Colonial's quantity requirements for shipments?
   
5. How fast do products move in the pipeline?
   
6. Who owns the petroleum being transported?
   
7. How are different grades of product kept separate in the pipeline?
   
8. What happens to products at interfaces?
   

1. What kinds of petroleum products are transported by Colonial?

Colonial has active product codes for 38 different grades of gasoline-including reformulated gasolines (RFG) and multiple vapor pressures for each grade, seven grades of kerosene (including two for military), 16 grades of home heating oil and diesel fuel (including diesel fuel marine for the U.S. Navy and light cycle oil) and one grade of transmix. Of the 62 codes, 29 are for fungible products and 33 are for products that must be shipped on a segregated basis.

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2. How big are batches?

Mainline batches vary from 75,000 to 3,200,000 barrels. The smallest mainline batch (75,000 barrels) may be made up of three 25,000-barrel fungible batches. Batches delivered on smaller stublines vary from 2,500 barrels minimum up to 350,000 barrels.

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3. What is the difference between fungible and segregated products?

Fungible products shipped on the Colonial system are generic products. These products meet published Colonial specifications. Shippers will receive equivalent product but may not get back the actual product shipped. Segregated products are branded products or blendstock materials. On segregated shipments shippers receive the same product they injected into the system.

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4. What are Colonial's quantity requirements for shipments?

Colonial's minimum quantity or "tender" of products to be shipped on a segregated batch basis is 75,000 barrels. However, several shippers may make up joint fungible batches by tendering a minimum of 25,000 barrels each. Deliveries to final destinations in most cases may carry from a minimum of 2,500 barrels delivered on stublines to 5,000 barrels delivered on mainlines.

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5. How fast do products move in the pipeline?

At about three to five miles per hour in mainlines. The greater the volume being transported on a given day, the faster the product moves. It generally takes from 14 to 24 days for a batch to get from Houston, Texas to the New York harbor, with 18.5 days the average time.

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6. Who owns the petroleum being transported?

The shipping companies. Colonial neither buys nor sells petroleum products. It provides transportation services only.

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7. How are different grades of product kept separate in the pipeline?

Different product batches are pushed through the system abutting each other. Mechanical separators (pigs) are seldom used. The stream is always in a turbulent flow condition which minimizes mixing. The areas where different products mix are called interfaces.

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8. What happens to products at interfaces?

Products are sequenced to permit most interfaces to be downgraded-from premium gasoline to regular gasoline, for example. Interfaces where gasoline and distillates mix, referred to as transmix, are sold for rerefining.

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