Gasoline liftings starting to decline ahead of Hurricane Dorian

Dorian is now a Category 5 hurricane and is the strongest hurricane on record to move through the northwestern Bahamas, and among the strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic (DTN Weather Team). The track is mostly in line with yesterday’s projections with the storm expected to hug the coast line putting Georgia and the Carolinas in the cross hairs of the storm. So far the storm is not expected to make landfall in the U.S. and gasoline and diesel lifting in the terminals we are monitoring have started to decline (except for Savannah).

Gasoline & ULSD Liftings through August 31

The four charts below show liftings of regular gasoline from two terminals in Florida (Orlando & Jacksonville) along with Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC.

• Gasoline liftings in the two Florida terminals monitored have now started to decline with the largest decline shown in Jacksonville and only a small decrease in Orlando. This may suggest that residents may be gaining some degree of confidence that the storm will stay offshore and may chose not to evacuate. In addition, wholesale prices have also stated to decline slightly.
• The Savannah terminal is still showing another increase in gasoline liftings even as the storm is not expected to make landfall there. However, prices have started to decline.
• In the Charleston terminal, there was a large decline in gasoline liftings and a decline in prices. Charleston did not see any lifting surge similar to what we saw in the other three terminals monitored.

We are also monitoring lifting of ULSD from two terminals in Florida (Orlando & Jacksonville) along with Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. At all four terminals, liftings and prices for ULSD have declined modestly suggesting that the commercial sector and emergency management vehicles may be well supplied.