Careful Planning Keeps Texans Safe Before, During and After the Storm

As the image below demonstrates, fuel infrastructure and delivery mechanisms are part of a complex system.   All levels of industry – including drilling rigs, pipelines, ports, tankers, barges, trucks, crude oil storage facilities, refineries, product terminals, retail storage facilities and individual gas stations– prepare comprehensive emergency response plans long before a hurricane makes landfall.

Days before a storm strikes, members of the State Fuel Team assemble to work with the State and industry to facilitate the flow of fuel necessary to respond to the increased demands as the State of Texas urges Texans to prepare for a storm. The mission of the Fuel team is to support the maintenance of a reliable fuel supplies and to assist with recovery of the fuel network as quickly as possible after a storm.

The main Fuel Team is located in the State Operations Center to provide real time information to the State and to its industry network.  However, the members of the Fuel Team are just a small representation of the immense fuel supply network.

The following diagram illustrates the inputs for fuel, the fuel manufacturing process, the fuel distribution, and finally the retail sales.  All of these functions must work together to deliver the fuel Texas and the nation needs.