Some fuel terminals have short-term outages

BISMARCK, N.D. – Industry officials say they are mystified by fuel shortages at terminals in the Upper Midwest in recent days, but they expect enough supplies for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Terminals have run out of fuel in West Fargo and Grand Forks in North Dakota; Alexandria, Minn.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.


Officials are trying to figure out why.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” said Dawna Leitzke, executive director of the South Dakota Petroleum and Propane Marketers Association.

…Bruce Heine, a spokesman for Magellan Midstream Partners LP, which runs a network of pipelines and distribution terminals, said gas and diesel were being delivered to Sioux Falls, West Fargo and Alexandria, and diesel to Grand Forks. The terminal in Grand Forks was still without gas.

Heine said the pipeline is not to blame for any shortage.

“We don’t own the (fuel) inventory in our system,” he said. “If we don’t have adequate supply to match up with demand, then we encounter some short-term outages.”

AP