Hurricane Grace to make landfall in Mexico tonight, likely to miss oil, chem production hubs

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Hurricane Grace is expected to make landfall on Mexico’s mainland tonight, and the storm is likely to skirt between the country’s chemical production hub to the north and its oil and gas production hub to the south.

As of 15:00 GMT, Grace was about 200 miles (325 km) east of Tuxpan, Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles/hour, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The storm is moving to the west at 14 miles/hour.

Early estimates had the storm heading toward the Port of Altamira, which is a logistical and petrochemical production hub for the country.

As the storm tracked further to the south, Grace had the potential to disrupt natural gas and other energy production.

And while the current path has Grace making landfall between the two regions, the NHC warned that hurricane force winds (75 miles/hour and higher) extend outward up to 30 miles from the center of the storm and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 185 miles.

Mexican state energy producer Pemex has activated its emergency response plan for facilities in the state of Tamaulipas, which includes the Port of Altamira, according to a release on its website.

The NHC estimated storm surge ahead of Grace could raise water levels by four to six feet (1-2 metres) above normal tide.

Along with high winds, the storm is likely to produce from six to 12 inches (15-30 cm) of rain with isolated totals as high as 18 inches through Sunday.

Heavy rains can disrupt the transportation of chemicals and fuels via truck and rail.

A hurricane warning is in effect for Mexico’s mainland from Puerto Veracruz to Cabo Rojo and a tropical storm warning is in effect for Mexico’s coast from north of Cabo Rojo to Barra del Tordo.

HURRICANE HENRI TO HIT NORTHEAST US
The path of Hurricane Henri has shifted to the west and is now likely to make landfall on Sunday in southern New England.

According to the ICIS Supply and Demand Database, AmSty has some polystyrene (PS) capacity in Allyn’s Point, Connecticut.

ALLNEX produces unsaturated polyester resins in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Eastman Chemical produces ethyl acetate (etac) and polyvinyl alcohol in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Roehm makes polymethyl methacrylate in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Click here for the topic page on US Gulf storms – impact on chemicals.