The fuel tank farm was a Pacific bottleneck

How damaging would the destruction of Pearl Harbor’s fuel tank farm have been?

It would have badly delayed operations by forcing limited tanker capacity to replace the base’s storage function.

Pearl Harbor's fuel tanks formed part of a transport system. Storage absorbed the irregular arrival of slower tankers and let scarce fast oilers concentrate on supporting combat forces farther west. If the tanks were destroyed, those fast ships would have to shuttle fuel to Hawaii before the fleet could move beyond it. Replacing storage with transport would delay operations and expose the small tanker pool to constant competing demands. A serious setback into 1942 was likely, though claims that the loss would halt American action until 1943 are less certain.