Florida Gas Station Outages Decline as Recovery Efforts Continue After Hurricanes
(Reuters) — Gas stations across Florida were resuming operations on Monday, easing fuel shortages as the state recovered from back-to-back hurricanes which caused widespread disruption.
Millions evacuated their homes last week to escape Hurricane Milton, jamming highways and causing gasoline shortages less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene slammed the state. The fuel shortages also affected clean-up efforts.
Only about 17% of Florida's nearly 8,000 gasoline retail outlets were out of fuel on Monday at 1 p.m. EDT, down from a peak of over 26% on Friday, according to data from market tracker GasBuddy.com.
Tampa, which was spared from the catastrophic surge of seawater many forecasters feared, saw gas station outages decline to less than half of total area stations on Monday from a peak of over 75% on Friday, GasBuddy data showed.
"There has been a slow, steady improvement since Friday," GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said. Most fuel retailers should return to normal service in five to 10 days, he added.
Resuming Operations
Florida is the third-largest gasoline consumer in the U.S. There are no refineries in the state, so it depends on shipments from elsewhere by land or water.
Port Tampa Bay, through which over 43% of Florida's annual fuel imports pass, resumed vessel operations on Sunday, which should improve fuel availability in coming days, wholesale petroleum distributor Mansfield Energy said.
Mansfield, which suspended all fuel deliveries from Tampa to Orlando last week, said it is asking for a 48-hour notice to make new deliveries in Florida. Deliveries to southern Georgia are back to normal, the company told clients.
Bulk fuel supply terminals completed initial damage assessments after protectively shutting operations ahead of Milton's landfall last Wednesday. Some had restored operations while others were preparing to follow suit later this week, according to statements shared with Reuters.
The Central Florida Pipeline system, which delivers gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from Tampa to Orlando, is fully operational after resuming service over the weekend, operator Kinder Morgan Inc KMI.N said, adding its bulk terminals in the Tampa area are also operating.
Energy infrastructure company Martin Midstream Partners LP MMLP.O said its terminal in Tampa is about 75% operational and full operations are anticipated over the next 48 to 72 hours.
On Friday, refiner CITGO Petroleum said it had begun restoration work at its Tampa terminal and expects it to be fully operational mid to late this week.
Oil major Chevron Corp. said repairs were underway at its Tampa terminals while its Port Everglades and Panama City terminals were supplying fuel to the market.
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