Hurricane Milton hampers gasoline provide chain

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., reveals how the state is coping with the specter of Hurricane Milton on Cavuto: Coast to Coast.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida late Wednesday evening and residents in areas impacted by the life-threatening storm are prone to see disruptions to gasoline provides till the storm has handed and shipments resume.

Gasoline shortages have been reported at stations in components of central Florida earlier this week as residents within the space crammed up their tanks and hit the street for locations outdoors of Milton’s path. Others stocked up on gasoline to gasoline turbines that might be relied upon to maintain the lights on within the occasion of an influence outage.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents the U.S. oil and pure gasoline trade, mentioned that trade members are working with authorities officers on addressing provide points and to set the stage for a return to regular operations as soon as it is potential.

“Our industry is closely monitoring Hurricane Milton and will work with state and federal officials to help alleviate supply issues and enable normal operations to resume as quickly and safely as possible after the storm has passed,” mentioned API spokesperson Scott Lauermann in a press release to FOX Enterprise.

HURRICANE MILTON DRIVES GAS SHORTAGE IN FLORIDA AS RESIDENTS FLEE STORM

Folks line up of their vehicles for gasoline at a gasoline station forward of Hurricane Milton’s anticipated landfall in Lakeland, Florida. (Photograph by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

A spokesperson for ExxonMobil instructed FOX Enterprise, “Our primary focus is the safety and well being of our employees and Florida communities. We recognize that fuel supply is critical, and we’re working to supply our Port Everglades fuels terminal with gasoline and diesel to support local emergency responders and community needs.” 

“We’re prepared to continue operating our Port Everglades fuels terminal 24 hours a day, and we’re ready for increased truck traffic to assist efforts in getting fuel where needed,” ExxonMobil’s assertion continued. “We’re also working with others in the industry, including third-party distributors, to help supply gas stations as efficiently and safely as possible to meet the need for fuel.”

FOX Enterprise additionally reached out to Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell about efforts to mitigate provide chain disruptions and plans to renew operations after the storm.

Ticker Safety Final Change Change % XOM EXXON MOBIL CORP. 122.09 +0.05
+0.04%
CVX CHEVRON CORP. 149.65 +0.90
+0.61%
COP CONOCOPHILLIPS 110.97 +0.17
+0.15%
SHEL SHELL PLC 68.22 -0.05
-0.07%

‘WAFFLE HOUSE INDEX’ SHOWS FLORIDA CLOSURES AS HURRICANE MILTON APPROACHES

Gas vans depart Port Everglades forward of Hurricane Milton on October 09, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  (Photograph by James D. Morgan/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

An replace from the workplace of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis famous that 25 Florida Freeway Patrol Troopers have been escorting gasoline vans from Port Tampa and SeaPort Manatee to fueling stations across the Tampa space all through Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. 

“Additional troopers will continue these escorts around the clock as long as it is safe to do so until landfall,” the replace added.

Inbound and outbound transport site visitors at Port Tampa Bay has been halted, in addition to a number of different Florida seaports in anticipation of the storm. The Division of Power’s Power Info Administration (EIA) famous that 43% of Florida’s petroleum merchandise, together with gasoline and diesel, transfer via Port Tampa Bay.

“The duration of the port closures and impacts from Hurricane Milton on trade movements for petroleum and natural gas remain uncertain,” EIA wrote on Wednesday.

HURRICANE MILTON: WHAT SHOULD EV OWNERS DO BEFORE AND AFTER STORM?

Tankers and cargo ships shifting items between U.S. ports are required to adjust to the Jones Act. (Photograph by DANIEL SLIM/AFP through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

An obscure transport regulation often called the Jones Act may doubtlessly have an effect on the resumption of standard gasoline provides to Florida. The regulation requires items moved by water between ports within the U.S. be carried on vessels flagged and registered within the U.S., which might be additionally owned by People, crewed by People and are constructed domestically.

Colin Grabow, affiliate director on the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Middle for Commerce Coverage Research, instructed FOX Enterprise that the Jones Act is “relevant for Florida because Florida is essentially an energy island – there are no interstate pipelines that connect it to, say, the Colonial Pipeline, or any refineries along the Gulf Coast.”

A thunderstorm might be seen shifting over Tampa within the distance from St. Petersburg, Florida, forward of Hurricane Milton’s anticipated landfall in the midst of this week. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)

In consequence, Florida depends closely on seaborne shipments of gasoline in addition to shipments trucked in from adjoining states. Nevertheless, there are comparatively few Jones Act-compliant tankers – Grabow defined that out of the worldwide fleet of seven,500 tankers there are simply 55 that adjust to the regulation’s necessities.

“I think in emergency situations you want to have as much flexibility, as many options as possible. And this law means that we’ll have a lot fewer vessels to choose from to move supplies and fuel to Florida if that need arises.”

Grabow famous that there have been a number of waivers of the Jones Act in response to hurricanes, together with notable examples by President George W. Bush in response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, President Trump for Hurricane Maria in 2017 and President Biden for Hurricane Fiona in 2022. 

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These waivers have confirmed politically controversial, notably the newest 2022 waiver which noticed a BP-owned tanker that had departed Texas certain for the Netherlands offload gasoline in Puerto Rico. Grabow mentioned that supporters of the Jones Act argued that such waivers ought to solely be issued for ships which might be empty on the time of the waivers issuance. 

“The upshot being that if this was to repeat itself, a lot of people think, ‘well, the government can just waive the Jones Act,’ but it’s become much more difficult to issue those waivers since Biden did two years ago and since Trump did seven years ago after Hurricane Maria,” Grabow mentioned.