A New England gasoline supply disruption caused when Glencore could not load barges of gasoline on time is ongoing despite earlier belief the situation would be cleared up by Friday, sources said.
Glencore is said to have run into dock congestion in New England this week, preventing it from loading barges on time. This led to a supply disruption and problems at terminals owned by Gulf, Magellan and Sunoco, among others, which were said to have run out of or low on gasoline.
A source close to Glencore said Thursday reports of its inability to load barges were not true but declined to elaborate.
"New England is still a mess," a Boston trader said Friday. "Hopefully by mid-week people will be caught up. [There is] a lot of product arriving in Boston today."
Irving shut down Tuesday the 95,000 b/d fluid catalytic cracker unit at its 300,000 b/d Saint John refinery in New Brunswick for repairs. The refinery is a key supplier of gasoline to the Atlantic Coast and that has been "part of the problem supplywise," the source said.
A New York-based source said the situation is "nowhere as bad as before but [the area] is still having some effects."
