Houston (Platts)--8Feb2013/102 pm EST/1802 GMT

US Mid-Atlantic and Northeast terminals and refineries were operating largely as normal Friday morning, but all were keeping a close watch on an incoming winter storm, they said.

The storm is expected to hit the northern Mid-Atlantic and all of the Northeast with heavy -- possibly record -- snowfall and strong winds later Friday and through Saturday.

Phillips 66's Bayway 238,000 b/d refinery in Linden, New Jersey, was operating normally, according to Rich Johnson, a spokesman for the company.

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"All of our Northeast operations are routine at this time," he added in regards to terminal operations.

A person with knowledge of Castle Oil's terminal operations in the New York borough of the Bronx said Saturday will be the main day that any impact is seen. Barges will be tied up, delaying any deliveries by a day or two, the source added.

On the downstream side, the company's racks business may have an early close Friday. On Saturday, the company plans to open as normal, but the source doubted the company "will be able to move too much product."

As a result, to catch up on deliveries, the company will likely be open Sunday, which is not the usual case.

Terminals operated by Kinder Morgan and Magellan Midstream throughout the region and by IMTT at Bayonne, New Jersey, expect to operate normally, according to company representatives.

"We are closely monitoring the weather, but we do not have plans to discontinue operations at this time," said Bruce Heine, spokesman for Magellan.

A source at terminal operator Sprague said Thursday "was a big day at the racks, a lot of trucks tried to get in ahead of the storm, but this is not a Sandy event" for the company's New York operations.

"It's not going to be prolonged. Some waterborne elements have gone weatherbound, moving to safe harbor, but aside from that there are no issues. If anything, we see people preparing more in advance as a consequence of Sandy," the source added.

A spokesman for the Sandy Hooks Pilots Association -- which provides piloting services for the Port of New York, New Jersey, the Hudson River, East River, Atlantic City, and Long Island Sound -- said it "never shuts operations," but there may be delays in the thick of the blizzard at night.

Meanwhile, "no operations have been affected" at United Refining's 70,000 b/d refinery in Warren, Pennsylvania, according to spokesman Robert Kaemmerer.

Representatives for Philadelphia Energy Solution's 330,000 b/d refinery, Monroe Energy's 185,000 b/d refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, NuStar's 75,000 b/d refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey, Hess' 70,000 b/d Port Reading, New Jersey, refinery were not immediately available for comment.

PBF declined to comment on the impact on its 190,200 b/d refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, and its 166,000 b/d refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

Colonial Pipeline is still carrying the backup generators brought up for Hurricane Sandy, said Steve Baker, a spokesman for Colonial.

Buckeye Pipeline spokesman Kevin Goodwin said: "We're basically battening down the hatches at this point. We're operational and preparing for the storm like Sandy."

"We are staging some generators in key locations, having people ready on standby. We've got this call set up for this afternoon to say, 'Let's make sure everyone's talking,'" he said, adding that the company would continue to monitor the storm as needed.

Further north, North Atlantic Refining's 115,000 b/d Come-by-Chance refinery in Newfoundland is operating normally, said Gloria Warren-Slade, spokeswoman for the company.

"We're up in Newfoundland. Storms don't mean much to us," Warren-Slade said.

Meanwhile, Irving Oil's 300,000 b/d Saint John refinery in New Brunswick, has not taken any units offline, said spokeswoman Carolyn van der Veen.

"We have a plan in place in case of severe weather. We anticipate no interruptions," van der Veen said.

Imperial Oil's 88,000 b/d refinery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was also operating normally, said spokeswoman Leanne Dohy.

--Joshua Starnes, joshua_starnes@platts.com x
--Meera Patel, meera_patel@platts.com
--Lucretia Cardenas, lucretia_cardenas@platts.com
--John-Laurent Tronche, john-laurent_tronche@platts.com
--Wajih Choudhury, wajih_choudhury@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com

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