Why Florida drivers may be able to avoid gas price spike after country’s largest pipeline shuts down

ORLANDO, Fla. — There’s a threat of higher gas prices as the country’s largest pipeline for refined products — like gasoline — has been shut down since Friday due to a cyber attack.

The Colonial Pipeline carries gasoline and diesel from refineries in Texas, supplying states with fuel across the southeastern U.S. and up to the eastern seaboard to the New York harbor.

Florida is not largely dependent on the Colonial Pipeline for gasoline, according to the American Automobile Association.

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Most of Florida’s fuel is delivered from Gulf Coast refineries by ships.

The outage comes at a time when gas prices are already going up.

“The longer the pipeline is down, the greater the threat of rising gas prices,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. “If operations are restored on Monday, drivers may see very little to no impact at the pump. A lengthy downtime, like a week, would be a different story. Sunday night, gasoline futures prices were up less than a nickel.”

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In an effort to ease supply concerns, the Department of Transportation issued a temporary hours of service exemption that applies to tanker trucks transporting gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products.

AAA reported that the exemption is something commonly seen after a hurricane or other natural disaster. It applies to 18 states, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

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Prices increased an average of 10 cents a gallon this week to an average of $2.88. The average price of gas in Orlando is $2.84.

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Cox Media Group