Pennsylvania refinery runs low on crude as Michigan pipeline shutdown continues

The Warren, Pennsylvania-based United Refining Co. is warning that gasoline consumers in New York and Pennsylvania may face supply problems if the shutdown of Enbridge’s troubled Michigan pipeline continues.

This week federal regulators rejected a plan for restarting the pipeline because they said it lacked specific “technical detail” or “adequate steps to permit a conclusion that no immediate threats are present elsewhere on the line.”

GoErie.com reports:

Fred Martin, vice president of supply and transportation for United Refining, which sells gasoline through more than 300 of its own Country Fair, Red Apple and Kwik Fill stations, said seven refineries have seen crude supplies dwindle since the pipeline shut down July 27.

But none, he said, has been affected more dramatically than United, which obtains more than half of its crude oil from the pipeline, which carries oil from Canada.

The Warren refinery, which had been processing more than 70,000 barrels of oil a day, has seen that total dip by 35 to 40 percent, he said.

Company CEO John Catsimatidis told Goerie.com, “We are entering the final days of summer vacations, and the prospect of gas shortages, empty pumps and gas lines is not a pretty prospect for northwest Pennsylvania and western New York.”

Earlier this week the BP-Husky refinery in suburban Toledo announced that its output had been altered by the pipeline shutdown.

Enbridge is the largest shipper of Canadian crude. Beginning around July 25 a rupture in the pipeline that runs between Griffith, Indiana and Sarnia, Ontario dumped a million gallons of crude into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. The company is expected to submit a revised pipeline restart plan on Friday.