Pipeline Expansion to Boost East Coast Gasoline Supply

The main refined products pipeline from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast of the US will expand capacity by 125,000 barrels/day by 2014. The Colonial Pipeline Co. announced the expansion today according to a report at MarketWatch.

The expansion will be phased, with 20,000 barrels/day of new capacity on-line by the middle of this year, another 40,000 barrels/day by 2013, and the final 60,000 barrels/day added in 2014. Current capacity of the Colonial system is about 2.3 million barrels/day.

The pipeline is being expanded to help fill the gap caused by the closure of two refineries in the Philadelphia area that provided nearly 363,000 barrels/day of gasoline and other products to the US Northeast. A third refinery, with a capacity of 335,000 barrels/day is slated to be closed by July if a buyer for the plant cannot be found.