More than 600,000 still without power after Laura; rail damaged

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Laura has left more than 600,000 without power in the states of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas after damaging a main rail line and causing several petrochemical plants and refineries to shut down.

Companies are now assessing their plants and restarting those that escaped damage.

Hurricane Laura made landfall early on Thursday in Louisiana near the border with Texas. It was a category 4 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 miles/hour (240 km/hour).

Laura has since weakened into a tropical depression, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 30 miles/hour (45 km/hour), the National Hurricane Center said in its last update on the storm. As of 400 hours Central time (900 hours GMT), Laura was 95 miles (155 km) west-northwest of Memphis, Tennessee.

A few tornadoes could form later in the day, the centre said. On Saturday, the storm should produce 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) of rain.

As the storm heads towards the Atlantic ocean, it has left several communities along the Gulf of Mexico without power.

The following table compares the number of outages on Thursday evening with those on Friday morning.

	Friday	Thursday
Louisiana	515,362	627,166
Texas	132,113	186,263
Arkansas	44,210	29,164
Mississippi	4,979	9,765

Source: PowerOutage.US

The ability of chemical companies to restart plants will depend, in part on the restoration of power.

LOGISTICS
Union Pacific said its main rail line and industry lead tracks around Lake Charles, Louisiana, are out of service. They suffered heavy damage during the storm and the company has issued embargoes.

Union Pacific’s started to re-open its rail yards in Houston on Thursday. These suffered no damage. It plans to open its Avondale, Louisiana intermodal terminal on Friday as well as its Settegast and Englewood intermodal terminals in Houston.

Norfolk Southern said that the New Orleans Flood Protection Authority has opened the Seabrook and Florida Avenue flood gates. This gives the railroad company access to Norfolk Southern Oliver Yard and Norfolk Southern Chalmette Branch.

Norfolk Southern is in the process of returning rail cars to these yards, which had been vacated.

Shipments destined to New Orleans served facilities should expect delays of 24-48 hours.

Although the flood protection authority had opened two flood gates, Norfolk Southern said gateways to the western carriers in New Orleans remain closed.

Union Pacific and others have been re-routing traffic as needed.

CSX said it sustained minimal damage from Laura and it will resume normal operations in New Orleans. Delays are still possible at the New Orleans and Memphis gateways because of disruptions on the connecting railroads.

Many of the previously closed ports in the US Gulf Coast region are now reopened or reopened with conditions.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) has suspended operations at the Marine Terminal, it said. Deliveries at Clovelly Hub remain normal.

The LOOP is an offshore oil terminal that is 20 miles from the coast. It is the only US port capable of fully loading a very large crude carrier (VLCC).

PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS
Dow said its plants along the US Gulf Coast reported no major damage from Laura.

On Tuesday, operations should resume at Deer Park, La Porte, Bayport and Texas City, Dow said. The company’s plants in Sabine and Beaumont experienced very minor damage. They will restart as infrastructure allows.

The company’s plants in Freeport, Texas, and across Louisiana continued operating during the storm.

As a precaution, Dow had shut down its Texas sites in Sabine, Beaumont, Deer Park, La Porte, Bayport and Texas City.

Westlake Chemical said its plants near Lake Charles, Louisiana, sustained limited damage. Lake Charles is roughly 50 miles (80 km) near the point where Laura made landfall. Restarting the plants will depend on the availability of electricity, industrial gases and other feedstock.

LyondellBasell said its polypropylene (PP) plant in Lake Charles suffered limited damage.

The plant was taken offline 25 August amid storm preparations.

Sasol said its plants in Lake Charles were down and without power.

ExxonMobil said it is restarting is refinery and chemical plant in Beaumont, Texas. Beaumont is northwest of the landfall site. By road, the distance is 70 miles.

Motiva’s cracker, refinery and terminals in Port Arthur, Texas, sustained minimal damage, the company said. It is making preparations to restart operations as soon as it is safe to do so.

Port Arthur is near Beaumont.

Chevron is starting up its fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit in Pasadena, Texas, the company told regulators. Pasadena is surrounded by Houston, which saw little effect from the storm.

TPC Group is restarting its BD units in Houston, the company said.

INEOS is starting up its Chocolate Bayou cracker, according to a regulatory filing. The site is far away from the landfall site.

Not all plants escaped Laura without incident. A chlorine leak and fire hit a BioLab plant on Thursday in Westlake, Louisiana.

The plant makes trichloroisocyanuric acid, chlorinating granules among other specialty chemicals.

BioLab is owned by KIK Custom Products, which bought Chemtura’s pool-and-spa chemicals business in 2014.

KIK did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Right after landfall, 16% of total US ethylene capacity had been shut down because of the storm, according to the ICIS Supply and Demand Database. For propylene, 11% of US capacity was offline.

Polyethylene (PE), a plastic used in packaging, was at 18%. Polypropylene (PP), a plastic used in rigid containers and automobiles, was at 26%.

Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), a synthetic rubber used to make tyres, had 46% of its US capacity offline.

Additional reporting by Joseph Chang, Amanda Hay, Anna Matherne, Zachary Moore, Michael Sims, Alex Snodgrass and Antoinette Smith

Photo shows Hurricane Laura Source: Uncredited/AP/Shutterstock

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