Kinder Morgan Shuts Texas Oil Terminal After Fire

By Alexander Kwiatkowski and Nidaa Bakhsh

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP said a fire late yesterday shut its Pasadena oil terminal in Texas, which connects refineries from along the Gulf Coast to pipelines serving the eastern and Midwest U.S.

``We are having to pull barrels from other origin points,'' Steve Baker, a spokesman for Colonial Pipeline Co., which transports fuel from the terminal, said in a telephone interview today. ``That is a large tank farm with a lot of supply.''

The blaze, which broke out in a pipeline manifold, is now under control and is ``down very low,'' Joe Hollier, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan, said in a telephone interview today. The company is planning to resume ``limited operations,'' later today, he said.

The fire started at 10:30 p.m. local time yesterday. One employee was injured and taken to hospital. The cause of the fire and extent of damage is unknown, according to Hollier. ``The fire was contained in the manifold pit,'' which links pipelines pumping gasoline products, he said.

The Pasadena plant is part of the company's Houston complex, taking oil products from refineries in Houston, Texas City, Corpus Christi, Baytown and Sweeny and pumping them into the Colonial, Teppco, Explorer and Magellan pipeline systems, according to a diagram on Kinder Morgan's Web site.

``Their tank farm is a gathering point for barrels shipped on Colonial and Explorer pipelines,'' said Colonial's Baker.

Hurricane Ike

Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips, and BP Plc, are among refiners that send oil products into the Pasadena terminal. Plants that were shut ahead of Hurricane Ike earlier this month are increasing production as the restart process continues.

The Houston Chronicle reported the blaze ``could be seen for miles'' as the Pasadena and Houston fire departments worked to put out the blaze. KPRC, a local television station, said a pipeline had exploded at the facility, according to an article on Click2houston.com.

A Pasadena police department official earlier said the fire was in a gasoline storage tank. The Pasadena site, along the Houston Ship Channel, has a storage capacity of 15.2 million barrels in 117 tanks.

Colonial Pipeline Co. said Sept. 16 that its main lines had reached ``healthy'' rates after they were shut before Hurricane Ike, which made landfall in the state on Sept. 13.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in London at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.netNidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net;