Key waterways opened and more terminals made progress in returning to service this weekend in the US Northeast after Hurricane Sandy. Below is a summary of the most recent developments. MARKETS
--The US Environmental Protection Agency has temporarily waived the use of 15 ppm sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD) for on-road and off-road and permitted the use of heating oil (2,000 ppm diesel) in New Jersey; New York, including New York City; and Pennsylvania following the disruption to transportation caused by Hurricane Sandy, the agency said Saturday.
PORTS, TERMINALS AND REFINERIES
--The US Coast Guard opened the Arthur Kill waterway which leads into the ports of New York and New Jersey to commercial traffic with restrictions late Saturday. BP, Kinder Morgan, Phillips 66, Gulf Oil, NuStar, Shell, Motiva, Hess and ST Linden have terminals on Arthur Kill.
--The USCG also said Lower New York Bay had also been opened with restrictions. Chapel Hill Channel had not yet been surveyed as of Saturday.
--Colonial Pipeline said that commercial power was restored early Sunday to its Linden, New Jersey, facility, which includes storage terminals and pipeline interchanges. The facility resumed operations in Linden late Thursday using power from generators. Operations were shut early in the week ahead of Hurricane Sandy.
--Buckeye Partners said Saturday it had restarted operations at its New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania pipeline systems after having shut them earlier in the week ahead of the storm.
--The International-Matex Tank Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey, resumed partial service Saturday, the US DOE said Sunday, citing trade press reports. A Sunday update by maritime consultant Moran Shipping said IMTT-Bayonne has begun receiving vessels and also deliveries via Colonial Pipeline.
--Sunoco's Newark, New Jersey, and Inwood, New York, terminals were completely flooded and could be offline for weeks given the need for substantial repairs, the company said Friday. Its Piscataway, New Jersey, terminal reopened Friday. There was no change as of Sunday, a spokesman said.
--The DOE said Sunday that the following 10 terminals remain shut: Hess' Bayonne and Newark, New Jersey, terminals, and its Perth Amboy and Woodbridge, New York, terminals; Motiva's Brooklyn and Long Island, New York, terminals and Newark and Sewaren, New Jersey, terminals; NuStar's Dumfries, Virginia, terminal; and Phillips 66's Tremley Point, New Jersey, terminal.
--Hess said Saturday it restored power to its Port Reading, New Jersey, FCC refinery early that day but the FCC remained shut and its startup would depend on how soon the in-house utility systems could be brought online and an assessment of the facility completed. Marine operations were continuing on a limited scale, with the discharge of gasoline barges.
--Hess also said its Pennsauken, New Jersey, and Groton, Connecticut, terminals were resuming marine operations. Marine operations continue at its terminals in Baltimore, Maryland; the Bronx, New York; and Chesapeake, Virginia. Other terminals with suspended operations as of Saturday included: Brooklyn and Woodbridge, New York; Bayonne, Edgewater and Newark, New Jersey.
POWER
--Some 1.924 million people were still without electricity as of 9 a.m. EST Sunday, the first time the number has dropped below 2 million since the peak of 8 million was reached Tuesday, the US DOE said.
