Longtime Colonial Pipeline CEO to retire

Leader to step down months after leaks choked Ga. gas supply.

Colonial Pipeline said its longtime chief executive is retiring, months after the national pipeline operator suffered two massive leaks and a fire that killed a worker and crimped metro Atlanta’s gasoline supply for days.

CEO Tim Felt will step down from leading the Alpharetta company at the end of this month, according to the announcement Thursday.

“It has been a privilege to lead Colonial Pipeline over the past eight years,” Felt said in a press release. “After careful thought and consideration, now is the right time for me to retire.”

Colonial, a privately held company, operates a 5,500-mile fuel pipeline network that transports 100 million gallons a day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other fuels. The network stretches from Gulf Coast refineries to New York and points in between. Atlanta is its biggest market.

Colonial said its board of directors and shareholders “thanked Felt for his leadership and contributions, especially during the challenging months Colonial recently faced. During Felt’s tenure as CEO, Colonial’s business steadily grew through capacity expansion, an acquisition, joint ventures and partnerships.”

Colonial named former AGL Resources CEO John Somerhalder as the company’s interim CEO starting Feb. 1. Somerhalder was head of the Atlanta-based natural gas utility when Southern Co. acquired it in 2015 in a $12 billion deal.

Last September, a leak in a Colonial pipeline near Helena, Ala., resulted in a spill and shut down fuel shipments for more than a week, boosting gas prices and causing service station shutdowns in metro Atlanta. About a month later, a construction accident a few miles from the first site killed one employee of a contractor and injured several others. It caused another pipeline shutdown but had less effect on supply.