Marco strengthens to hurricane, changes course to Louisiana

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Marco strengthened into a hurricane on Sunday and has changed course to make landfall on the southeastern coast of Louisiana. It is one of two hurricanes that could hit the US state this week, meteorologists said.

Oil producers have started to evacuate production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in preparation for the storms.

Hurricane Marco has wind speeds of 75 miles/hour, and it is about 300 miles (480 km) from the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center said.

It is expected to make landfall by Monday, as shown on the following map.

Source: National Hurricane Center

Tropical storm Laura is farther east in the Caribbean Sea. It is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Tuesday before making landfall by Thursday either in Louisiana or in Texas. Meteorologists have moved the path of the storm westward since earlier forecasts.

The following map shows the current forecast for the path of Laura.

Source: National Hurricane Center

In preparation of the storms, oil companies have evacuated workers from six out of the 643 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, representing 0.93% of the total, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

Production platforms produce oil and natural gas offshore. Unlike drilling rigs, which typically move from location to location, platforms stay in place throughout a project’s duration.

In all, 240,785 bbl/day of US oil production has been shut-in in the Gulf of Mexico, representing 13.02% of  total gulf output, the BSEE said. For gas, 119 million cubic feet/day of US production has been shut-in, representing 4.39% of the total in the gulf.

The Gulf of Mexico hosts several offshore oil wells, accounting for 17% of the nation’s crude production, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The region is home to more than 45% of its refining capacity and 51% of its natural-gas-processing capacity, the EIA said.

Tropical storms and hurricanes can shut down plants with heavy rains and strong winds.

If the plants suffer no damage, flooded roads, rail lines and ports can prevent employees from showing up to work.

Raw materials could be unable to arrive at the plants, and finished products could be stranded

Plants could shut down because of power outages.

Exceptionally heavy rain can disrupt the supplies of natural gas liquids (NGLs), the predominate feedstock for US crackers.

Midstream companies store NGLs in salt caverns. When they pump NGLs out of the caverns, they displace the material with brine stored in ponds. If the brine gets too diluted, it cannot be used to pump out the NGLs.

Heavy rain could also prevent new NGLs from being pumped into the caverns. Before NGLs can be pumped into the caverns, brine has to be pumped out.

If the ponds are already full from rain, then the brine in the caverns has no place to go.

Earlier on Friday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency in advance of the storms.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott urged people in the state to remain vigilant on Friday.

The following are some Louisiana chemical plants listed in the ICIS Supply and Demand Database.

Company	Site(s)	Product(s)
American Styrenics	St James	Styrene
BASF	Geismar	BDO, EO, MDI, TDI
Calumet	Princeton, Shreveport	Base oil
CITGO	Lake Charles	Toluene, MX
Cornerstone	Fortier	Melamine, CAN
COS-MAR	Carville	Styrene
Dow	Plaquemine	EO, gycol ethers, PG
Dow	Taft	Ethanolamines, ethylene, propylene
Excel Paralubes	Westlake	Base oil
ExxonMobil	Baton Rouge	Ethylene, propylene, BD, toluene, PP, PVC, VCM
Formosa Plastics USA	Baton Route	PVC
Indorama	Lake Charles	Ethylene, propylene
INEOS Oxide	Plaquemine	Ethanolamines
LACC	Lake Charles	Ethylene, EG
LyondellBasell	Lake Charles	PP
NOVA	Geismar	Ethylene, propylene
Oxy Chem	Convent, Taft	Caustic soda, chlorine
Phillips 66	Belle Chasse	Benzene, MX, toluene, propylene
Pinnacle Polymers	Garyville	PP
Roehm	Fortier	MMA
Sasol	Lake Charles	Ethylene
Shell	Geismar	EO, EG
Shell	Norco	Ethylene, propylene
Shintech	Plaquemine	PVC
Total	Carville	PS
Westlake	Lake Charles	Ethylene, styrene
Westlake	Plaquemine	PVC, VCM