The Motiva Enterprises fuel facility includes two piers, both of which were damaged in a fire last summer.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Motiva Enterprises says that work is progressing on reconstruction of the pier that was badly damaged by a spectacular fire last year, and that it should be reopened by mid-October.

The fire on July 18, 2006, led to the closure of the company’s facility at the Port of Providence. That closure disrupted deliveries of automobile and aviation gasoline and diesel fuel in the region, with some service stations running out of gasoline.

Motiva is one of the major suppliers of fuel to Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, and its Providence terminal serves as the gateway for these products.

The fire damaged Motiva’s two piers, and the company reopened one of them last October. That allowed the company to resume taking fuel deliveries by barge. Since then, the facility has been operating at or near capacity, Mike Sullivan, complex manager for the Motiva terminal, said Wednesday.

The other pier was more severely damaged and required a complete reconstruction, Sullivan said. When it reopens, the company will once again be able to receive shipments by tanker since that berth can accommodate deeper vessels.

The fire erupted while the Danish tanker Nordeuropa was unloading gasoline during an intense thunderstorm. The images of the conflagration were so dramatic they were carried on national news broadcasts. No one was injured.

Initially, fire investigators speculated that the fire may have been caused by a lightening strike. But a report released in April by the Providence Fire Department all but ruled that out. The investigation found that an unusually strong gust of wind pushed the tanker away from the wharf, causing a break in the tanker’s fuel delivery hose and the wharfside apparatus to which it was attached, and gasoline spilled onto the wharf. That pool of gas may have been ignited by cables that became dislodged when the tanker pulled away from the pier, the report said.

A frame-by-frame analysis of a security video from the fire shows the Nordeuropa moving away from the dock at 10:28 p.m., followed by the spilling of the gasoline, which pools beneath the gantry, and then a blue spark on the gantry that apparently ignited the fire, which traveled back up the hose to the tanker.

The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting its own investigation into the cause. A Coast Guard spokesman said yesterday that the agency’s investigation has not yet been completed, and he could not provide a date when it would be finished.

tbarmann@projo.com