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ESSENTIAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION • KATHRYN CLAY, PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL LIQUID TERMINALS ASSOCIATION (ILTA), EXPLAINS HOW ILTA AND ITS MEMBERS ARE COPING WITH THE COVID-19 CRISIS
(EIA), the statistical arm of the US Energy Department, even expanded its weekly report to include estimates of US crude oil storage capacity utilisation. And the market itself began taking extraordinary action. Pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners began offering two-way shipping along a crude oil pipeline connecting the Gulf Coast and storage terminals in Cushing, Oklahoma, in a move to give oil companies more storage options to cope with the global supply glut and rapidly filling storage stocks. And oil traders were storing record volumes of oil on ships as onshore storage filled.
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has put a lot of things into perspective, from the way we live and work to the meaning of health, family and community. It has also helped make evident the vital nature of liquids terminals. Liquids terminals serve as a critical logistics link in the fuel supply chain, allowing the ultimate consumer to access products such as gasoline, diesel, chemicals and liquid foods. Governments have deemed terminal workers – and many of the workers responsible for transporting products to and from terminals – essential employees. Some may ask why? The reason is simple, especially when
manufacture sterile surgical gowns, masks, the N95 respirators, IV lines and intubation equipment. All those products are made from petrochemicals, derived from oil and gas, and stored and transported through terminals. INTEREST IN STORAGE During the pandemic, terminals – particularly tank storage terminals – have become a focal point of the oil industry. With drivers heeding public health guidance to stay at home, gasoline demand plummeted. At the same time, producers, especially Russia and Saudi Arabia, flooded the market with crude oil. The
FIND SOLUTIONS On the operational side, the Covid-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges for terminals. But liquids terminal operators found solutions to safely continue with their vital operations - and keep supplies flowing seamlessly - during the pandemic, even while they were taking precautions to protect workers and contractors.
viewed in light of a global health crisis. Without terminals, there is no way of ensuring adequate supplies of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel so that emergency supplies and food can be delivered by plane or truck and that emergency personnel can travel to work. Without terminals, we can’t
result was a dramatic drop in world oil prices and sharp increases in the amount of crude oil in storage. Market analysts, who in recent years gave only a passing nod to weekly storage inventory reports, began reporting on them in earnest. The Energy Information Administration
The industry is doing things it has never had to do – in some cases, full-service tank fill-up for tank trucks, limiting work to focus on critical tasks and outfitting all workers in full PPE – to ensure that the terminals can stay safe and open for business to continue their essential services.
HCB MONTHLY | MAY 2020
