Jet fuel problem causes adjustments at McCarran; Nellis spared

A weeklong jet fuel shortage at McCarran International Airport that resulted in airline pilots having to land here with enough fuel in their tanks to reach their next destination has ended.

Airlines were alerted March 18 that “tankering” procedures were in place because a five-day supply of fuel that didn’t meet standards was delivered to the airport’s fuel farm by pipeline. McCarran’s fuel tanks have capacity to store an estimated 9.6 days’ worth of fuel.

The bad fuel flowed into five of McCarran’s 10 storage tanks but on Monday, airlines were told the tankering order was lifted after fuel in four of the five tanks was retested after being filtered and treated with an additive. Tests are underway on the fifth tank.

None of the bad fuel ever entered the airport’s hydration system used to fill aircraft fuel tanks.

McCarran officials said there were no flight delays as a result of the problem, but the Arizona Republic reported that an undetermined number of flights made unscheduled fuel stops at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport on March 18.

Pilots routinely fly with less than a full tank of fuel aboard to maximize a flight’s profitability.

Every airline has a formula to calculate just how much fuel to add at any stop, taking into account how many people are on the plane, the need for a fuel surplus to account for unexpected events, how much the fuel weighs, the price of the fuel at the stop and reported wind speeds on the route. A tankering order, when it occurs, is one more variable that must be considered.

Overseas flights generally are exempted from tankering protocols.

How the bad fuel entered the McCarran pipeline, which originates in Colton, Calif., and is fed by several refinery companies, is under investigation.

“The situation is currently under review,” said Brandy King, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines, which heads a consortium of airlines that purchases jet fuel from the California refineries. “The fuel was not classified as contaminated. It did not meet one of a number of test parameters in routine testing that occurred earlier last week.”

Neither the consortium nor the operator of the 8-inch jet fuel pipeline, Kinder Morgan, disclosed the companies that provide fuel to the airport nor speculated on the cause of the problem.

Fuel expert Ben Brockwell, who has been with the New Jersey-based Oil Price Information Service for more than 30 years, said refineries operated by Tesoro, Chevron and Exxon produce jet fuel in Southern California.

Brockwell, who published reports last week about McCarran’s fuel problem, said he was told the fuel did not meet thermal stability requirements. Thermal stability involves the temperature at which fuel ignites in an engine.

King said similar fuel delivery problems have occurred before, but McCarran has no record of when it last happened in Las Vegas.

Brockwell said fuel shortages occur more often than the public realizes. He said last week, the storage tanks at Tampa International Airport dwindled to a half-day supply before a pipeline issue was resolved.

“One of these days, it’s going to happen,” Brockwell said. “Many people have experienced a gas station for their cars running out of gas. Imagine what would happen if you couldn’t fuel planes at an airport.”

King said a variety of refined products — jet fuel, gasoline and diesel — are transmitted one behind the other through the pipeline.

Kinder Morgan’s 233-mile pipeline from Colton ends at McCarran, but a separate looped pipeline extends from McCarran to tanks serving Nellis Air Force Base in North Las Vegas. None of the bad fuel reached those storage tanks. Fuel for the North Las Vegas Municipal Airport arrives by tanker truck.

Brockwell said Nellis was alerted that if the problem wasn’t quickly resolved that McCarran might need to tap its supplies.

King said fuel flowing through the pipeline is monitored and tested at several stages on the route. One of those tests determined that the fuel was not up to specification.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow him on Twitter @RickVelotta.