East Coast Gas Prices Jump After Alabama Pipeline Explosion

An explosion and fire at a pipeline that delivers about one-third of the gasoline used on the East Coast is expected to raise prices at the pump and shows the fragility of a delivery system that is relied upon by tens of millions of people.
 
Gasoline futures shot up as much as 15% on Tuesday in intraday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the accident on Monday involving Colonial Pipeline Co. The gains at one point on Tuesday were the biggest intraday move in eight years before narrowing and ending up 4.6%, at $1.4841 a gallon.
 
 
Colonial shut down its main gasoline and diesel pipelines after the incident Monday afternoon in Shelby County, Ala., about 35 miles south of Birmingham. It was the second major disruption on the 52-year-old pipeline in two months. Contract workers performing maintenance on the system using an excavating machine struck one of the lines, causing an explosion and fire that killed one person and injured several others.
 
 
The company said on Tuesday that the diesel pipeline resumed operations and that the gasoline line is scheduled to restart Saturday, though that could change. Colonial said it could work with shippers to send gasoline through the diesel line, which also ships jet fuel.
 
The 5,500-mile pipeline system carries more than 100 million gallons of fuel a day from Houston to New Jersey and serves 13 states in the South and on the East Coast.