Colonial At Full Capability After Hurricane Gustav

COLONIAL PIPELINE RETRUNS TO FULL OPERATING CAPABILITY 

Hurricane Gustav Forced Reduced Operations

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Colonial Pipeline is at full operating capabilities following power outages caused by Hurricane Gustav. The storm knocked out electricity at three central Louisiana stations on Sept. 1 and forced Colonial to operate at reduced rates for nearly a week. 

Even at reduced rates, Colonial was able to meet customer demands for shipments by injecting supplies of gasoline, diesel and other fuels from refineries not impacted by Gustav and from supplies in storage. 

On Friday, Colonial completed the deployment, installation and hook-up of portable generators purchased after the 2005 experience of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These generators were about an hour of away from supplying Colonial with power to restart operations at the company’s Baton Rouge facility when commercial power was restored. 

The final pumping station without power was returned to full commercial service overnight on Monday, bringing Colonial’s operating capabilities back to full service as Louisiana refineries shut down by Gustav continue their restarts. 

“First we want to express our sympathy and concern for the many people who have suffered tremendously because of this hurricane,” Colonial President and CEO Norm Szydlowski said. ​“Gustav was a devastating storm.” 

“I also want to thank those who helped get Colonial back in service as quickly and safely as possible,” Szydlowski said. ​“I especially want to thank our customers, both on the shipping end and the refining end, and also government officials at all levels — from Washington, D.C. to West Feliciana Parish. 

“We know the fuels delivered by our pipeline are essential to emergency responders as well as to all of our lives, and we learned from Katrina-Rita how important cooperation is to helping restore our pipeline to service.” 

In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused Colonial to shut down completely for approximately two days each time. Lessons learned in those hurricanes contributed to Colonial safely maintaining reduced operations during and after Hurricane Gustav.