Buckeye targets normal operations at Bahamas oil terminal on Tuesday

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Buckeye Partners LP said it aims to resume normal operations its Bahamas crude oil and fuel terminal, also known as Borco, on Tuesday after Hurricane Irma rampaged through the Caribbean as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record. The terminal, located in Freeport, on Grand Bahama Island, has no reported injuries, incidents or damage and restart activities began on Monday afternoon, the company said. While power is still out at the terminal, Buckeye expects terminal and marine operations to return to normal on Tuesday depending on weather conditions. The Borco terminal is Buckeye's largest and has the capacity to store about 26.2 million barrels of oil, fuel oil, gasoline and other products. It is also the largest fuel storage terminal in the western hemisphere, the Buckeye Global Marine Partners website said. Buckeye was forced to shut the terminal due to Irma on Sept. 7, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week. Irma has killed nearly 40 people in the Caribbean and at least six in Florida and Georgia and hammered energy infrastructure in those regions, even as recovery operations from storm Harvey were under way. It will likely dissipate from Tuesday evening, the National Hurricane Center said. Buckeye's terminals in Puerto Rico have returned to normal, a spokesman told Reuters in an email. The U.S.-based midstream company had closed the 4.6 million-barrel Yabucoa oil terminal in Puerto Rico last week. The company also said it aims to return some Florida terminals and pipelines to limited service on back-up power in 12-48 hours. All employees at Tampa and in the Miami area are all reported safe and accounted for, Buckeye said. Nustar Energy LP said on Monday it had put damage assessments of its terminal on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius on hold as it prepared for Hurricane Jose. Several tanks and other equipment at the 13.03 million-barrel crude and product storage terminal was damaged by Irma last week. The National Hurricane Center was monitoring Hurricane Jose, which was spinning in the Atlantic about 700 miles (1,130 km) west of Florida. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)