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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US energy industry
was preparing for a major hurricane strike, cutting crude production at a rate
approaching the level of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and halting oil refining at
plants along the Texas/Louisiana coast, reported Reuters.
Officials in the two states
called for hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate as Hurricane Laura
intensified and forecasters predicted it would become a major hurricane with
sustained, 115 mile per hour (185 kph) winds.
The intensification will
bring at least a 10-foot (3-meter) storm surge to the upper Texas coast later
this week and could produce a devastating category 4 hurricane, said Chris Kerr,
a meteorologist at agriculture, energy and weather data provider DTN.
Oil
producers on Tuesday had evacuated 310 offshore facilities and shut 1.56 million
barrels per day (bpd) of crude output, 84% of Gulf of Mexico’s offshore
production, near the 90% outage that Katrina brought 15 years ago.
The
storm will make landfall by early Thursday in an area that accounts for more
than 45% of total US petroleum refining capacity and 17% of oil production,
according to the Energy Information Administration.
Refiners that produce
gasoline and diesel fuel were taking steps to halt eight coastal facilities with
nearly 2.78 million bpd of processing, 14.6% of the U.S. total capacity,
according to Reuters tallies.
The impact on refineries so far is less
than Hurricane Harvey, whose drenching rains took down nearly one quarter of US
refining capacity three years ago.
US gasoline futures have jumped as
much as 10% since Friday, while crude benchmarks settled at a five-month high on
Tuesday due to the shutdowns.
“There will be a significant storm surge
from Galveston (Texas) to the Sabine River,” an area encompassing some of the
region’s largest refineries, said DTN’s Kerr. “There are ideal conditions in
central and west Gulf for rapid intensification.”
Officials in several
Texas and Louisiana communities called for mandatory evacuations affecting half
a million people. Residents from areas of Houston to Orange, Texas, should flee
the area and seek shelter inland, Texas officials said.
Cheniere Energy
Inc, the largest US exporter of liquefied natural gas, evacuated staff and
suspended operations at its Sabine Pass LNG export terminal on the
Texas/Louisiana border.
Motiva Enterprises, Total SA and Valero Energy
began cutting
operations at their Port Arthur, Texas, refineries, according to people
familiar with the matter.
Total, Motiva and Valero confirmed the
shutdowns, and a Valero spokeswoman said it also was reviewing the risks to its
Texas City, plant southeast of Houston.
Citgo Petroleum said it has begun
to halt processing at its 418,000 bpd refinery in Lake Charles,
Louisiana.
Exxon Mobil Corp also began shutting
production at its large Beaumont, Texas, refinery and reduced output at its
Baytown, Texas, plant ahead of a possible shutdown.
Exxon confirmed it
was initiating a shutdown at Beaumont and was preparing for possible severe
weather at its Baytown refinery and chemical complex, a spokesman said. If the
Baytown plant fully halts processing, total shutdowns along the coast would hit
2.78 million bpd.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE
and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000
tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in
imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months
of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer
(homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports. |
