Colonial Pipeline expects main gasoline artery to restart on Friday

By Shariq Khan and Nicole Jao

(Reuters) -Colonial Pipeline has made progress in identifying the source of a leak on its main gasoline artery and estimates Line 1 will restart on Friday, earlier than previous expectations, the company said on Thursday.

Line 1, one of two mainlines on the more than 5,500-mile (8,850-km) Colonial system, was shut on Monday night after Colonial received reports of a gasoline release in Paulding County, Georgia.

The company earlier expected the line, which supplies about half of the U.S. East Coast's demand for motor fuel, would remain shut through Friday.

"On-site work to identify the source of a release and begin repairs on our gasoline pipeline, Line 1, in Paulding County, Ga., have progressed," Colonial Pipeline said in a statement on Thursday.

The line should restart on Friday if site conditions remain stable and repairs proceed as planned, the statement added, without providing a specific time.

The restart is currently expected to be at 8 a.m. Central Time (1400 GMT), a person familiar with the matter said.

A spokesperson for the company declined to answer questions about the cause and size of the leak.

Line 1 delivers 1.5 million barrels of gasoline each day from Houston, Texas, to storage tanks in Greensboro, North Carolina, from where the motor fuel is distributed locally or shipped to other markets all the way up to the New York Harbor.

It is almost always chock-full of gasoline, making it one of the most crucial parts of the domestic U.S. gasoline supply chain.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan and Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jamie Freed)