(Bloomberg) -- The biggest fuel pipeline in the U.S. shutits mainlines Monday after an explosion and fire in Alabama thatkilled at least one person. Gasoline futures surged and U.S.refiner stocks gained.

Colonial Pipeline Co., which carries refinedproducts to New York Harbor from Houston, shut the lines for thesecond time in two months.

A contract crew working miles from the site of a Sept. 9 spillran into the pipeline with a trackhoe, igniting gasoline andcausing a fire, Colonial said in a statement.

One person died at the scene and five others were transported toBirmingham-area hospitals for treatment. The spill in Septembershut the line for 12 days, cutting supplies to 50 million Americansin the Southeast.

Business interruption

The pipelines remained shut and fire continued to burn as of 10:45p.m. Monday local time, Colonial said in the statement. Emergencycrews built a barrier 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall and 80 feet long tocontain the burning fuel, Alabama Gov. RobertBentley wrote on Twitter. Major fuel suppliers began notifyingwholesalers in South Carolina late Monday of allocations.

The southeastern U.S. is “highly dependent on pipeline suppliesfrom Colonial and, ultimately, Colonial flows form the baseline ofU.S. East Coast supply,” Robert Campbell, head of oil productsresearch at Energy Aspects Ltd. in New York, said in a note. Thelonger the mainlines are offline, “the more upward pressure will beplaced on U.S. East Coast fuel prices, while downward pressure willbe exerted on U.S. Gulf Coast product prices.”

December gasoline futures rose as much as 21.56 cents, or 15percent, to $1.6351 a gallon, the biggest intraday gain for anactive contract since 2008. The New York Mercantile Exchangecontract, which is for supplies delivered into New YorkHarbor, traded at $1.5775 at 1:37 p.m. Singaporetime.

The explosion and fire comes as the U.S. oil industry faces abacklash from environmentalists opposed to building new pipelines,including the controversial $3.8 billion Dakota Access oilpipeline. Last year, the Obama administration rejected the KeystoneXL project. In early October, climate change activists disruptedoil flows by turning off valves in several remote pumping stationsalong the Enbridge Inc.’s main pipeline, which runs from Canada tothe U.S. Midwest.

1.3 million-barrel-a-day gasoline line

Colonial, owned by a group that includes Koch Capital InvestmentsCo. and a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, had to shut its 1.3million-barrel-a-day gasoline line after an 7,370-barrel leak wasdiscovered Sept. 9. It built a temporary bypass that allowed it toresume shipments on Sept. 22, which its had planned to removebetween late-October and mid-November. Now both the gasolinemainline and the mainline that transports diesel and jet fuel areshut.

Colonial — and to a lesser extent the smaller PlantationPipe Line Co. — play a key role in supplying the U.S.Southeast because there aren’t any refineries between Alabama andPennsylvania that produce substantial quantities of transportationfuels. The region is supplied primarily by pipelines fromrefineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to the U.S. EnergyInformation Administration.

While Colonial has a capacity of 2.6 million barrels a day ofrefined products, the Plantation pipeline carries just 700,000barrels a day.

Several major U.S. refiners gained in after-market trading asgasoline’s premium to Brent crude, a theoretical profit margin formany fuel makers, jumped as much as 60 percent to $18 a barrelbefore paring gains to about $14. Phillips 66, which operates arefinery near New York City, gained 1.7 percent to $82.50 on theNew York Stock Exchange after closing at $81.15 a share Monday.Valero Energy Corp. and Marathon Petroleum Corp. also rose.

Related: Business interruption insurance becomes anessential risk management tool

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