Riggins, Inc. released internal data today showing that in the two weeks following Superstorm Sandy, the company was able to maintain access to supplies of gasoline and diesel, and distribute over 7 million gallons of fuel throughout the affected region. No Riggins customers went without fuel during this challenging time. Riggins was able to survive the storm with minimal damage to its core operations and was able to continuously access supplies of gasoline, diesel, and heating oil after the storm because it maintains a distribution network that has access to ports in Delaware, Philadelphia, and New York. The destruction in the storm’s wake caused refineries, terminals, and pipelines to close for extended periods of time, causing significant and very dangerous disruptions for consumers, businesses, and governments across the region. Paul Riggins, President, said that he had not seen the oil industry in such turmoil in any of his 35 years in the industry. The company experienced a 75% increase in call volume in the two weeks following the storm.
Matt Riggins, Strategy Director, said that the top priority for the company during the response was to supply fuel to critical infrastructure providing basic services like water and sewer, as well as to essential elements of the emergency response effort like emergency generators at fire and police stations, hospitals, military bases, and communications towers. Riggins supplied over 1 million gallons of fuel to 680 critical government entities across the affected regions, and delivered over 5.5 million gallons of fuel to 1,300 gasoline service stations. Paul Riggins also applauded the Christie Administration’s response to the gas crisis. “Governor Christie and his team worked night and day with us to get the gasoline and emergency generator fuel to the places that needed it most. The Administration’s work to clear bureaucratic hurdles and quickly implement common sense solutions helped limit the damage and speed the recovery. Given the magnitude of the storm and the impact on the industry’s infrastructure, it could have been a whole lot worse.”
Riggins, Inc. issued an After Action Report outlining its response efforts, lessons learned, and recommendations for policymakers for future petroleum crisis response planning. Click here to read the full report.