- NEW YORK (Reuters)
-- The largest blackout in North American history forced seven oil refineries
to shut down in the United States and Canada on Thursday night, threatening
already thin fuel stockpiles. The loss of more than 750,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of fuel production capacity comes at a time when the United States,
the world's largest energy consumer, faces the lowest gasoline supplies
in nearly eight months.
-
- Gasoline stations in parts of the United States hit by
a massive blackout were also unable to open Friday morning, leaving millions
of drivers without fuel, the American Automobile Association said.
-
- "The pumps run on electricity, so people can't fill
up their tanks," said Geoff Sundstrom, AAA spokesman. "The good
part about this is that even though you lose a day of gasoline production,
you also lose a day of demand," he said.
-
- In the United States, Marathon Oil Corp. MRO.N shut its
76,000 bpd Detroit, Michigan refinery; BP BP.L shut its 160,000 bpd Toledo,
Ohio, plant; and Sunoco SUN.N shut its 140,000 bpd Toledo plant.
-
- BP and Sunoco said they were ready for a swift restart
of their Ohio plants once power is restored.
-
- In Canada, Shell SHC.TO RD.AS SHEL.L said it was restarting
its 75,000 bpd refinery in Ontario, while Imperial Oil Ltd. IMO.TO said
it was preparing to restart its two Ontario plants, which add up to 237,000
bpd, after they were brought down Thursday.
-
- Petro-Canada PCA.TO also said its 90,000 bpd Oakville,
Ontario, refinery was shut but hoped for a quick restart after power is
restored and stable.
-
- The refinery disruptions boosted gasoline futures prices
on the NYMEX over the $1 per gallon mark to their highest level in nearly
five months before the contract settled at 99.94 cents a gallon, up 2.31
cents on the day.
-
- The main artery for Canadian oil shipments to the U.S.
Midwest and southern Ontario, run by Enbridge Inc. ENB.TO , was also crippled
by the blackout.
-
- Much of the 2 million bpd system, the world's longest
for oil and petroleum products shipments, was shut down east of Lake Superior,
and Enbridge said it was forced to cut volumes moving to its terminal at
Superior, Wisconsin, from Alberta to prevent storage tanks from filling
to the brims.
-
- Other energy firms in the area of the blackout reported
normal operations, including ConocoPhillips COP.N , which operates a big
plant in Linden, New Jersey.
-
- The Colonial Pipeline, which operates the largest products
pipeline system in the United States, said Friday its operations were unaffected
by the blackout.
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