LITTLE ROCK — A malfunctioning valve in a pipeline that supplies most of the gasoline sold in central Arkansas has been fixed and deliveries of gas to the area are expected to resume this evening.
The problem occurred Friday in Cape Girardeau, Mo. There were reports of a few Little Rock-area gas stations running out of at least one grade of fuel, but industry officials said there won’t be any widespread shortage.
The Enterprise TE pipeline that runs from Baytown, Texas, on the Gulf Coast, through El Dorado and central Arkansas, and on to Chicago and New York was shut down about 12:45 p.m. Friday. It was fixed Sunday morning.
The pipeline had been scheduled to deliver gasoline to the North Little Rock terminal near Prothro Junction and Interstate 40 on Friday, but that was delayed until today, said Rick Rainey, spokesman for Enterprise Products Partners in Houston. He said the shipment coming today will be regular-grade gasoline.
“It’s possible there could be a few isolated incidents of stations that run short, but it’s not going to be prolonged or widespread,” Rainey said. “It will depend on how well stocked the different stations were to begin with and if the supplier is traveling to other terminals to get gasoline.”
Because suppliers are driving to El Dorado or Fort Smith to get gasoline, prices paid at the pump could rise a little. However, because the problem didn’t last long, any increase in prices should be small and short-lived, industry experts said.
David Zakrzewski, president and chief executive officer of North Little Rock based Coulson Oil, said he was sending trucks to Fort Smith and El Dorado to ensure gas stations that Coulson supplies don’t run out.
“There is not a shortage of gasoline, there’s plenty,” he said. “The malfunction pushed my regular delivery four days, so that means last week’s delivery had to last four days longer than usual, which caused some spot outages in town. If people just don’t panic there shouldn’t be any problem.”
He could not say which stations might be having supply issues.
Coulson Oil supplies gasoline to various Shell, Valero, Phillips 66 and independent gas stations in central Arkansas.
Zakrzewski said prices shouldn’t rise too much because of the delivery problems, but that it would be up to individual stations.
“The price I’ll get in El Dorado and Fort Smith may be different, and it’ll cost me more for delivery,” he said, adding that the extra costs would get passed on to retailers. “If the retailers want to survive they’ll price accordingly. But there’s not a shortage of product and we expect to be back to normal [today].”
According to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, the price of gasoline in the Little Rock area has jumped about 9 cents since last Monday and is up 20 cents since a month ago. However, that’s in keeping with rising gasoline prices across the country.
On Monday, a barrel of crude oil rose above $108 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, The Associated Press reported.
The price has increased by nearly $3 per barrel in the last two trading days, although fluctuations that size aren’t uncommon.
Mike Right, a spokesman for AAA, said the rising price of crude oil would have a bigger impact on gasoline prices, but that prices in central Arkansas could see a modest uptick due to the delivery issues.
“It may not have a significant impact,” he said. “There may be a brief, modest impact. If the pipeline broke and they thought it would be down for two weeks that would be different, but this should be minimal.”
Ann Hines of the Arkansas Oil Marketers Association, a group that represents different gasoline and oil marketers in the state, said prices may rise a little due to the extra delivery costs but that everything should be back to normal by Wednesday.
“There is plenty of supply as long as everyone stays on their normal purchasing schedule,” she added.
Business, Pages 23 on 03/20/2012