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Pipeline outage forces airways to think about different gasoline provides

Pipeline outage forces airlines to consider other fuel supplies

Holding tanks can be seen in the Charlotte Airport Delivery Facility of Colonial Pipeline in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, an undated photo.

Colonial pipeline | via Reuters

The cyberattack that forced the shutdown of the largest refined fuel pipeline in the country over the weekend triggered some route changes for American Airlines as it aims to save fuel at its second largest hub.

Colonial Pipeline Co., which operates the 5,500-mile-long pipeline from Houston, Texas, to Linden, New Jersey, has a goal of resuming operations by the end of the week but said the process would be gradual. According to the company, the pipeline serves seven airports directly.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is the busiest for Delta Air Lines, said it is reviewing other fuel suppliers but operations are not affected.

“Hartsfield-Jackson and its airline partners are in close communication with fuel suppliers and are taking steps to mitigate the effects of the colonial incident,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “ATL is currently coordinating with other suppliers to increase the airport’s fuel inventory.”

Delta declined to comment on the pipeline failure.

American Airlines said in a statement that the impact of the outage on its operations has so far been minor. Stopovers will be added for two long-haul flights from Charlotte Douglas Airport, the airline announced on Monday. A non-stop trip to Honolulu will stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International, where the fuel supply has not been interrupted. Customers there will convert their aircraft to a Boeing 777-300 to fly on to Hawaii.

A flight from Charlotte to London will stop in Boston for extra fuel. The changes are effective at least until May 14th.

Southwest Airlines flies extra-fuel aircraft at airports such as Nashville International Airport “to supplement local supplies.” Airlines can load more fuel on planes than is normally needed to avoid or reduce the need to refuel on the ground when supplies are limited.

“We are pleased to announce that Southwest’s operations have no impact,” said a spokesman.

American is also considering moving or refueling fuel at airports affected by the shortage, according to someone familiar with the matter.

United Airlines said it is working with airports “to understand the impact and our operations are not currently affected”.

Analysts have said the impact on the supply of jet fuel and other refined products like gasoline will depend on how long the outage lasts, especially as Memorial Day weekend approaches.

“We could probably do inventory for a week and then the problem would become acute,” said Rick Joswick, global head of oil analysis at S&P Global Platts. “Hopefully this will be resolved by then.”

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Business

Pipeline Shutdown Has Had Little Influence on Provides So Far

Pipeline Shutdown Has Had Little Impact on Supplies So Far

HOUSTON – The shutdown of the largest oil pipeline between Texas and New York on Friday after a ransomware attack had little immediate impact on gasoline, diesel or jet fuel supplies. However, some energy analysts warned that prolonged exposure could raise prices at the pump along the east coast.

Nationwide, the AAA Motor Club reported that the average price for regular gasoline did not move from $ 2.96 per gallon from Saturday to Sunday. New York state prices remained stable at $ 3, and prices rose a fraction of a penny per gallon in some southeastern states like Georgia, which are considered particularly vulnerable if the pipeline does not reopen quickly.

There is no evidence that motorists are panicking or that gas stations are undermining their customers at the start of the summer driving season, when gasoline prices traditionally rise.

But gasoline shortages could arise if the pipeline operated by Colonial Pipeline closes later this week, some analysts said.

“Even a temporary shutdown will likely cause national retail gas prices to rise above $ 3 per gallon for the first time since 2014,” said Jay Hatfield, chief executive of Infrastructure Capital Management and investor in natural gas and oil pipelines and storage.

The shutdown of the 5,500 mile pipeline that carries nearly half of the east coast’s fuel supplies was a worrying sign that the country’s energy infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattacks by criminal groups or nations.

Colonial Pipeline admitted on Saturday that it was the victim of a ransomware attack by a criminal group, which means the hacker can take the company’s data hostage until he pays a ransom. The privately owned company wouldn’t say whether it paid a ransom. They said it was working to get up and running as soon as possible.

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Updated

May 7, 2021 at 1:12 p.m. ET

One reason prices have not risen so far is that the east coast generally has plenty of fuel on hand. While fuel consumption grows, it remains depressed due to the prepandemic.

Nevertheless, there are some weak points in the supply system. Inventories in the southeast are a little lower than normal for this time of year. Refining capacity in the Northeast is limited, and the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve, an emergency-stop supply, only holds a total of one million barrels of gasoline in New York, Boston and South Portland, Maine.

This is not enough for even a single day with average regional consumption. That is according to a report released on Saturday by Clearview Energy Partners, a Washington-based research firm. “Much depends on the length of the failure,” the report said.

When Hurricane Harvey paralyzed several Gulf Coast refineries in 2017 and halted flows of petroleum products from the colonial pipeline to the northeast for nearly two weeks, spot gasoline prices in New York Harbor rose more than 25 percent and took nearly a month to subside.

Regional refineries can supplement their shipments through Kinder Morgan’s Plantation Pipeline, which runs between Louisiana and Northern Virginia. However, its capacity is limited and it does not reach any major metropolitan areas north of Washington, DC

The east coast has ample ports for importing petroleum products from Europe, Canada, and South America, but this can take time. Tankers sailing at speeds of up to 14 knots from Rotterdam in the Netherlands can take up to two weeks to get to the port of New York.

Tom Kloza, global director of energy research at Oil Price Information Service, said the Biden administration could suspend the Jones Act, which requires goods shipped between American ports to be transported on American-built and operated ships. This would allow foreign flag tankers to move additional barrels of fuel from Gulf ports to ports on the Atlantic coast. The Jones Act is usually suspended in emergencies such as hurricanes.

“One could argue that the Biden administration might consider such a move sooner rather than later if problems with the colonial software persist,” said Kloza.

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Health

U.S. to present India uncooked supplies for vaccines, medical provides to struggle Covid

Country reports over 330,000 new cases

Medical workers in protective equipment (PPE) stand on alert in front of the Covid-19 station at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on April 22, 2021 in New Delhi, India.

Sonu Mehta | Hindustan Times | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – The Biden government announced that it will immediately provide the raw materials needed to manufacture coronavirus vaccines in India as the country works to counter the rise in Covid-19 infections.

In the past few weeks, India has been grappling with a staggering surge in new coronavirus infections. Over the weekend, India set another world record for daily cases, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 16,960,172 cases, according to Johns Hopkins.

“Just as India sent aid to the United States because our hospitals were congested at the start of the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its need,” said Emily Horne, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, in a statement on Sunday.

Horne added that the United States would send raw materials to India to make the Covishield vaccine, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and protective equipment.

“The US Development Finance Corporation is funding a significant expansion of manufacturing capacity for BioE, the vaccine maker in India, so that BioE can produce at least 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2022,” Horne wrote. The US would also send a team of public health advisors from the Center for Disease Control and USAID to India.

The announcement follows a Sunday call between Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Sullivan “reiterated America’s solidarity with India, the two countries with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world,” read an ad on the appeal.

The US response comes after the UK, France and Germany pledged aid to India over the weekend.

On Sunday, Biden wrote on Twitter that his government was “determined to help India in its need”.

Last week, when the United States administered a new record of 200 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, Biden told reporters that his government was looking for more ways to help internationally.

“We’re looking at what will happen to some of the vaccines we don’t use. We’re going to make sure they can be shipped safely,” Biden said on April 21.

“We don’t have enough confidence to send it abroad now. But I assume we can do it,” he added.

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Health

EU, UK in talks over provides after new export guidelines

EU, UK in talks over supplies after new export rules

Nursing staff is waiting for the vaccine against COVID 19 from AstraZeneca at the sports center of the University of CUS Turin on March 14, 2021 in Turin, Italy.

Stefano Guidi | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON – Britain and the European Union try to settle a dispute over Covid-19 vaccine supplies shortly after EU officials announced stricter rules on the export of block-made shots.

The UK and the EU have been at odds for the past few weeks, with the latter complaining that London has not had the same level of reciprocity when it comes to distributing vaccines. The EU has said that since the end of January, more than 10 million cans produced in the EU have gone to the UK, but the UK has not exported any in return.

“We are all facing the same pandemic, and the third wave makes EU-UK cooperation even more important. We discussed what more we can do to promote a mutually beneficial relationship between the UK and the EU on Covid -19 to ensure. ” The UK government and the European Commission announced this in a joint statement on Wednesday.

“Given our interdependencies, we are working on specific steps that we can take in the short, medium and long term to create a win-win situation and expand the vaccine supply for all of our citizens,” said the UK and EU, adding in addition, these discussions would continue.

At the center of the recent dispute is the fact that the EU has received significantly fewer vaccines from AstraZeneca than expected, which puts further adoption at risk.

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company was expected to distribute around 90 million doses in the first quarter, but that number has since been reduced to 30 million doses.

Our export authorization mechanism is not regulated in any particular country.

Valdis Dombrovskis

EU head of trade

AstraZeneca, which developed its Covid vaccine in partnership with Oxford University, said yield problems at EU facilities have hampered production. So far, only 17 million doses have been distributed to EU countries, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

EU leaders will hold a virtual summit on Thursday to discuss ways to improve supplies of Covid vaccines and improve the introduction of doses.

Export rules

EU countries suffered another setback after AstraZeneca cut its delivery target for the second quarter from 180 million to 70 million cans.

“I remind you that AstraZeneca has only fulfilled a small part of its agreed contractual obligations,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, EU chief of trade, at a press conference on Wednesday.

As a result, the European Commission decided to tighten the rules for the export of block-made vaccines. The EU executive said on Wednesday that in addition to checking that companies are performing their contracts, it also takes into account whether the country that receives vaccines made in the EU has a higher vaccination rate and better epidemiological situation overall, and whether the recipient nation has restrictions on shipping vaccines or raw materials to other locations.

For this reason, the UK could expect a lower number of imported Covid recordings in the future. It has a higher vaccination rate than the EU and, according to the EU Commission, does not share its vaccines with other nations.

“Our export licensing mechanism is not regulated in any particular country, but it is clear that we in the EU must also ensure that our own people are vaccinated,” said Dombrovskis.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that blocking vaccines made “no sense”.

Over the weekend, Italian authorities discovered 29 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines at a processing facility near Rome. AstraZeneca said in a statement that these shots were waiting for quality control and that 13 million should be shipped to low and middle income countries and the remaining 16 million doses to EU countries, with 10 million expected in the last week of March be sent.

“It is wrong to call this inventory. The process of making vaccines is very complex and time-consuming. In particular, vaccine doses have to wait for quality control clearance after the vials are filled,” AstraZeneca said in a statement.

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Business

UK provides to gradual in coming weeks, rollout in danger

UK regulator warns those with history of significant allergic reactions

Assistant Nurse Katie McIntosh gives Vivien McKay, Clinical Nurse Manager at Western General Hospital, the first of two Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 shots on the first day of the largest vaccination program in UK history in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK December 8 2020.

Andrew Milligan | Reuters

LONDON – The UK government is facing questions whether the country is on the verge of a coronavirus vaccine shortage, a factor that could affect its so far successful vaccination program.

“We have less supply than we had hoped for in the coming weeks, but we assume that it will increase again later,” said housing secretary Robert Jenrick on Thursday to the BBC.

“The vaccine rollout will be a little slower than we hoped it would be, but not slower than the target,” he said. “We have every reason to believe that supply will increase in May, June and July.”

Jenrick later told Sky News that the government “sources vaccines from all over the world and we occasionally have some problems and that has led to this problem with some supply in the coming weeks.”

Jenrick’s comments come amid a spate of reports in the UK media that the UK rollout may be close to some turmoil. It has been widely reported that a shipment of millions of cans of the Oxford AstraZeneca shot produced by the Serum Institute of India could be delayed by four weeks.

Jenrick, however, refused to comment on certain contracts. CNBC has approached the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, for comment on the reports but has yet to receive a response.

According to Reuters, ten million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine should come from the SII in early March. In total, the UK has ordered 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, with the bulk of the supply coming from the UK

However, the UK also faces potential disruptions in supply if the EU makes a proposal to withhold exports of block-made vaccines while its own program is lagging behind. The supplies of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which the UK also uses in its vaccination program, come from Belgium.

Since its launch in December, the UK healthcare system has monitored the vaccination of over 25 million people with a first dose of the vaccine. More than 1.7 million people have now received a second dose of the two-shot vaccines currently used in the UK, government data shows.

“Still on the right track”

According to the BBC, the National Health Service had already warned “in April in a letter to the local health organizations” against a reduction in the offer for England.

However, the government has stated that it is still on track to offer a first dose of the vaccine to all over 50s by April 15 and a first vaccination to all UK adults by the end of July.

“The vaccination program will continue in the coming weeks and more people will continue to receive the first and second dose,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

“As has been the case since the program began, the number of vaccinations given over time will vary based on supply.”

‘Main problem’

Global health experts have long warned that vaccines, their supply and distribution could be an area where there could be discord between countries and regions.

Dr. Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, told CNBC Thursday that the public health authority knew from the start of the pandemic that vaccine distribution would be a “big problem”.

“This is exactly what has happened in previous outbreaks. Some groups and countries had good access (to vaccines) and even excessive access, while many countries had nothing. We saw this during the 2009 pandemic flu,” she told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe “.

“We’re really encouraging manufacturers to take steps so that more manufacturing companies around the world can really increase supply,” she said.

The UK vaccination program was his rescue after the pandemic that hit the country hard. The UK has had the fifth highest number of cases in the world, with over 4.2 million reported infections, and has recorded over 126,000 deaths to date, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot interview on provides to the EU

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot interview on supplies to the EU

Pascal Soriot, managing director of AstraZeneca.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, has defended the late launch of the coronavirus vaccine in the EU, saying the drug company is working “around the clock” to fix production problems. However, he also noted that the EU ordered three months later than the UK, which meant it was behind in addressing supply issues.

The EU has reacted angrily at a delay in AstraZeneca’s delivery of coronavirus vaccines to the bloc, which the European Medicines Agency is expected to approve later this week.

The 27-strong bloc expected around 80 million doses of the sting by the end of March, but will reportedly only receive around 31 million doses. With member states struggling to gain access to vaccines and rollout bursts, the EU has announced it will limit exports of EU-made Covid-19 vaccines.

Speaking to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Soriot said delays in the delivery of his coronavirus vaccine were caused by a variety of production issues.

“We think we solved these issues, but we are basically two months behind where we wanted to be,” he said

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had also seen “such teething troubles in the British supply chain,” noted Soriot, but when the British deal was signed three months before the European vaccine deal, the company had “three additional months to fix any glitches that we have experienced. “

However, AstraZeneca continued to plan to deliver most of the vaccines promised to the EU in February. “But if we deliver what we want to deliver in February, it’s not a small volume. We are planning to deliver millions of cans to Europe, it’s not small,” he told the newspaper.

A Brazilian doctor will voluntarily receive an injection in July 2020 as part of phase 3 studies with a vaccine developed by Oxford University and the UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Nelson Almeida | AFP | Getty Images

When asked what amount the EU could expect, Soriot said that once the vaccine is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), “we will ship at least 3 million doses to Europe immediately, then we will have another shipment.” about a week later and then in the third or fourth week of February. The goal is to dispense 17 million cans by February. “

“It’s not as good as we’d like it to be, but it’s really not that bad,” he said. Globally, Soriot said production capacity would be 100 million cans as of February.

Anger in the EU

Talks between AstraZeneca and the EU took place on Monday. Afterward, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the discussions “have led to dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity and inadequate explanations”.

The EU has asked AstraZeneca to provide a detailed plan for vaccine delivery and timing of distribution. Further discussions are scheduled for Wednesday.

Some countries, including Italy, have threatened legal action against AstraZeneca for the delay. Others have asked why the UK, which relies heavily on the AstraZeneca surge to introduce vaccinations, has pushed ahead with its vaccination campaign and has not yet experienced supply shortages. It has immunized more than 6.8 million people with at least a first two-dose dose of the vaccine.

Soriot said the UK manufacturing facility was more productive and insisted that there was no anti-EU context.

“Firstly, we have different plants and they have different yields and different productivity. One of the highest yielding plants is in the UK because it started earlier. It also had its own problems, but we solved them all. Good productivity, but it’s the UK plant because it started earlier. “

“We don’t do it on purpose. I am European, I have Europe in my heart. Our chairman is Swede, is European. Our CFO is European. Many leaders are European. That is why we want to treat Europe as the best.” we can.”

He noted that the drug company had a “best effort” contract with the EU as it wanted to be delivered at the same time as the UK, even though it was later to request the vaccine. “By the way, we have not made a commitment to the EU. It is not an obligation that we have for Europe. It is a great effort.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses for a photo with a vial of the vaccine candidate Covid-19 from the University of AstraZeneca / Oxford.

WPA pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Scaling and production problems

With a coronavirus vaccine developed, clinically tested, and approved in less than a year, Soriot said it was natural for the scaling-up process to interfere.

“We’re scaling up to hundreds of millions, billions of doses of vaccines at a very fast rate. We didn’t have a vaccine a year ago. If you do that, you have glitches, you have scale-up problems.” He added that there were currently problems with the production of the vaccine substance in two European plants.

“For Europe, the active ingredient is essentially manufactured in two plants, one in the Netherlands and one in Belgium. The drug is actually manufactured in Italy and Germany. So from a drug point of view, we have full capacity. We have no problem.” The current problems have to do with the manufacture of the drug’s substance, “he said.

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World News

EU calls for vaccine makers ‘ship’ provides

EU demands vaccine makers 'deliver' supplies

Employee Jessica Mueller brings the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine into a freezer in the vaccine warehouse, where the cans will be stored in Irxleben near Magdeburg, eastern Germany, before being distributed on January 8, 2021.

RONNY HARTMANN | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday called on coronavirus vaccine makers to deliver on their pledges to deliver millions of doses to the block and beyond.

Your comments face an unprecedented challenge for the EU when it comes to introducing vaccines in each of the 27 Member States. The EU’s vaccination campaign began on December 27, a later start than the UK or US, and the patchy, slow rollouts in many of its members have worried officials and the public.

“Europe has invested billions to support the development of the world’s first Covid-19 vaccines. To create a truly global common good,” said von der Leyen at the virtual Davos Agenda summit. “And now companies have to deliver. They have to meet their obligations.”

“Europe is determined to contribute to this global common good, but it also means business,” she said

“We were turned inwards”

A few hours later and at the same time, Chancellor Angela Merkel called for more cooperation and multilateralism in the life-saving blows.

She told the World Economic Forum: “It has become even clearer to me than before that we have to take a multilateral approach, that a self-isolating approach will not solve our problems.”

The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the high level of interdependence and networking in the world, and Germany initially made the mistake of looking inward to defeat the pandemic instead of working with others.

“We looked inward and cut ourselves off from each other, but very quickly we learned the lesson (not to do that),” she said.

Lack of vaccine

With the increase in infections and related bans, the EU is now faced with the challenge of vaccine shortages. Both Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca have warned of production issues that will either mean a temporary cut in production and the supplies the EU is receiving, and in the case of AstraZeneca, could mean it cannot meet a commitment to deliver 80 million Cans until the end of March.

An unnamed official told Reuters last week that AstraZeneca announced that the supply would instead be around 31 million doses, around 60% less than envisaged by the EU, which is expected to use the vaccine for emergencies later this week.

The news, understandably, enraged the bloc, which threatened to restrict exports of vaccines from the EU. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is made in Belgium.

Talks between the EU and AstraZeneca are due to resume on Wednesday. The former asked the pharmaceutical company to provide detailed plans for the manufacture and sale of vaccines. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement on Monday that an “export transparency mechanism” would be put in place to assess vaccine exports from the EU.

Haves vs. have-nots

The supply of vaccines is also a hot topic of conversation outside of Europe, which like other wealthy nations has at least started its vaccination campaigns. The poorer countries say they are at the bottom when it comes to access to life-saving footage.

Last week, the World Health Organization head said the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines was at “serious risk” and warned of “catastrophic moral failure” if vaccines were not distributed fairly.

This point was repeated on Tuesday by Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“This is the biggest test for all of humanity, and especially for OECD countries, as most of those countries bought three, five or even ten times as many vaccines as their entire population,” Gurria told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe “. “”

These vaccines are “badly needed” in developing countries and could “be a very important source of overseas aid support and international cooperation,” he added. “We won’t get rid of this pandemic until it’s gone everywhere,” he said.