Transportation fuels: the Gulf Coast produces, the East Coast consumes

Movement of transportation fuels (motor gasoline, distillates, and jet fuel) between the US Gulf Coast and East Coast regions represents the largest movement of such products in the US. The Gulf Coast is the largest petroleum refining region in the country. It produces nearly half of total US refined products. The densely populated East Coast is the largest consuming region in the country, accounting for more than one-third of total US consumption of transportation fuels.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, PADDs 1 and 3 Transportation Fuels Markets Study
Note: PADDs are Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts.

EIA commissioned a study of transportation fuels supply, consumption and distribution for each of the five large regions of the country, as defined by Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADDs). The study examined market dynamics within nine sub-PADD regions: four in the East Coast and five in the Gulf Coast.

The heavy concentration of refinery production in the Gulf Coast, and the East Coast's dependence on that production and on supply pipelines from the Gulf Coast, are simultaneously a strength and a weakness. The concentration of refining capacity in the Gulf Coast , and the connection of most of that capacity to two major pipeline systems (Colonial and Plantation), means that the unplanned loss of any one refinery can typically be compensated for by increasing production at other refineries in the region, or by drawing on the region's abundant inventories of transportation fuels. Also, transportation fuel exports from the Gulf Coast are high, meaning the region's refineries have a significant export buffer, allowing them to shift production away from exports to make up for shortages in domestic markets.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, PADDs 1 and 3 Transportation Fuels Markets Study
Note: PADDs are Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts. Sub-PADD regional breakouts were used in the analysis.

However, the concentration of refinery production in the Gulf Coast also presents a vulnerability to supply security in both PADDs. Designed to take advantage of the region's deepwater ports, Gulf Coast refineries and associated infrastructure are heavily concentrated in coastal areas, making them particularly vulnerable to disruption from hurricanes and other tropical weather patterns that threaten the Gulf Coast. Such weather events can cause widespread disruption.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/19022016/eia-on-transportation-fuels-2543/