Two out of 23 terminal employees present during the fire were hurt, according to local television reports. Sources in Houston said that the fire occurred at two gasoline tanks in pit 3. There are four pits at the terminal. The gasoline inventory in the tanks on fire belongs to Koch, which has leased tanks in pit 3 from Kinder Morgan.

Koch may have to replace those barrels with spot purchase. The terminal is expected to be down for at least a few days, they
said. Traders expect the fire at the terminal to again disrupt fuel supplies to the Colonial, Explorer and possibly Longhorn pipeline systems.

These pipeline systems supply fuel to El Paso, the Midwest, the Southeast and the Northeast.

The terminal was shut down for about a week because of Hurricane Ike. Fuel flow out of that terminal was slowly returning to normal. The terminal is one of the largest products terminals on the Gulf Coast. It has a capacity of 15.216 million bbl in 117 tanks.

It also has three barge docks and one ship dock for discharging of waterborne cargoes.