Colonial Shuts Largest US Gasoline Pipe to Investigate Leak

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Colonial Pipeline Co. shut the largest US fuel pipeline Tuesday to investigate a potential leak in Georgia.

The company’s Line 1 transports 1.5 million barrels a day of gasoline between Houston, Texas, and Greensboro, North Carolina.

The shutdown is expected to last about 12 hours, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing private matters.

New York gasoline futures on Tuesday touched the highest since October.

Colonial confirmed the shutdown, saying in a statement that it’s “responding to a report of a potential gasoline release on our right of way in Paulding County, Georgia.”

The pipeline outage comes amid rising East Coast gasoline stocks and modest US gasoline demand, which could limit upwards pressure on prices depending on how long the supply constraint lasts.

East Coast gasoline inventories have been rising for the last six weeks through Jan. 3, while the four-week average of US gasoline demand has declined over the two weeks ended Jan. 3.

Photo: (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg)