Majority of US Gulf oil, natgas remains shut in after Hurricane Ida

HOUSTON (ICIS)–A majority of US Gulf oil and natural gas remains shut in after Hurricane Ida made landfall on Sunday.

Nearly 94% of current oil production and 94% of gas production in the US Gulf remains shut in, according to the latest update by the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

The amount of oil and gas shut in has eased slightly from Monday.

	Total	%
Platforms evacuated	278	49.64
Rigs evacuated	9	81.8
Oil shut in (bbl/day)	1,705,095	93.69
Gas shut in (bcf/day)	2.107	94.47

Source: BSEE

US major oil companies have begun to assess the damage to offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell conducted a flyover for initial assessments of assets in the impacted area. Mars, Olympus and Ursa are all intact and on location.

Its floating production storage and offloading vessel, the Turritella, has resumed production. Its Perdido asset in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico remained online through Hurricane Ida.

All other assets remain shut in and fully evacuated at this time, the company said.

Chevron’s production in the Gulf remains shut in. Fourchon terminal, Empire terminal and their related pipeline systems are also shut in.

The company said it continues to conduct post-storm assessments at both its onshore and offshore facilities.

BP production remains shut in as well. It said production at its Gulf platforms will remain shut in until the company receives confirmation that its infrastructure is safe to operate and offshore pipeline companies have confirmed operability.

POWER OUTAGES
Power outages continue to exist for about 840,000 customers across the state of Louisiana and parts of Mississippi after Hurricane Ida made landfall on Sunday. The main power distributor in the state said the hardest-hit areas could experience outages “for weeks”.

Entergy – the main power distributor for the state of Louisiana – is still assessing the damage, which included damage to major transmission lines that deliver power to numerous Louisiana parishes, which remain out of service.

The number of outages has dropped slightly from Monday.

“The worst damage seen so far is in the south, southeast, Baton Rouge and New Orleans metro regions, with significant flooding reported in the southeast region,” the company said in an update around mid-day on Tuesday.

“Because of the extent of damage and rebuilding required, we expect recovery to be difficult and challenging, and customers in the hardest-hit areas should expect extended power outages lasting for weeks,” the company said.

Power outages can shut down operations at chemical plants and delay their restart.

Many companies shut down plants in anticipation of the storm. These plants make many plastics and chemicals that are in short supply. If they stay idled long enough, the shutdowns will further tighten markets.

PLANT SHUTDOWNS
The following table shows chemical plants and refineries in the region that have shut down.

Company	Site	Products	Status
DAK Americas	Bay St Louis, Mississippi	PET	FM
Cos-Mar	Carville, Louisiana	Styrene, ethylbenzene	Shutdown
AmSty	St James, Louisiana	Styrene	Shutdown
Valero	Meraux, Louisiana	Gasoline, refined products, propylene, propylene upgrade	Shutdown
Valero	St Charles, Louisiana	Gasoline, refined products, propylene, propylene upgrade	Shutdown
Shintech	Addis, Louisiana	Ethylene, chlorine, caustic soda, EDC, VCM, PVC	Shutdown
Shintech	Plaquemine, Louisiana	Ethylene, chlorine, caustic soda, EDC, VCM, PVC	Shutdown
Rubicon	Geismar, Louisiana	MDI, polyether polyols, aniline, nitrobenzene	Shutdown
Pinnacle Polymers	Garyville, Louisiana	PP	FM
Phillips 66	Belle Chasse, Louisiana	Refined products, aromatics, propylene	Shutdown
Olin	Plaquemine, Louisiana	Caustic soda, chlorine	Shutdown
Olin	St Gabriel, Louisiana	Caustic soda, chlorine	Shutdown
NOVA	Geismar, Louisiana	Ethylene, propylene	Shutdown
Marathon Petroleum	Garyville, Louisiana	Gasoline, refined products	Shutdown
ExxonMobil	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Gasoline, refinery grade propylene (RGP), benzene, toluene	Shutdown
Dow	Taft, Louisiana	Oxo-alcohols (Isobutanol, n-Butanol)	Shutdown
Cornerstone	Waggaman, Louisiana	ACN, melamine	FM
Westlake	Geismar, Louisiana	Caustic soda, EDC, PVC, VCM	Shutdown
Westlake	Plaquemine, Louisiana	Caustic soda, EDC, PVC, VCM	Shutdown
Formosa Plastics	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	PVC, VCM	Shutdown
ExxonMobil	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Olefins, aromatics, IPA, polyolefins, base oils	Shutdown
Dow	Taft, Louisiana	Olefins, acetic acid, acrylic acid, acrylic acid esters, ethanolamines, EO, glycol ethers, LLDPE, oxo-alcohols	Shutdown
Dow	Plaquemine, Louisiana	Olefins, aromatics, EO, glycol ethers, LDPE, LLDPE, PG, PO	Shutdown
BASF	Geismar, Louisiana	BDO, EO, MDI, TDI, polyols	Shutdown
Shell	Norco, Louisiana	Olefins	Shutdown
Shell	Geismar, Louisiana	LAO, EG, EO, linear alcohols, glycol ethers	Shutdown
Phillips 66	Belle Chasse, Louisiana	Refined products, aromatics, propylene	Shutdown
Cornerstone	Waggaman, Louisiana	ACN, melamine	Shutdown

The products made at many of these plants are already in short supply and the shutdowns could impact availability.

In the US fertilizer markets, CF Industries confirmed late Monday that the initial assessment of its Louisiana Donaldsonville Complex did not present significant damage from Hurricane Ida and production will resume as soon as possible.

The company shut down all production on 28 August, as the category 4 storm neared landfall. The complex includes six ammonia plants, five urea plants, four nitric acid plants and three urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) plants.

RAIL UPDATE
At least two of the main railroad lines running through Louisiana could be down for two to three weeks, two market sources said on Tuesday.

Railroad companies have not disclosed how long their main railroad lines could remain out of service.

Two companies confirmed that their lines are out.

BNSF said its main line between Lafayette, Louisiana, and New Orleans remains out of service.

Kansas City Southern has suspended rail operations on a portion of its line because of excessive rain and wind caused by Hurricane Ida, the company said on Monday.

Kansas City Southern said mainline operations and interchanges from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in Louisiana have been suspended, as well as Gulfport/Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Once the line has reopened, customers should expect delays until Kansas City Southern works through backlogs and until it can resume normal speeds in the areas impacted by Hurricane Ida.

The New Orleans Flood Protection Authority has closed the area’s floodgates, which will disrupt all eastward and westward rail routes going through New Orleans, including interchange routes on other carriers.

On Monday, Union Pacific said engineering crews have started to inspect railroad tracks to assess any storm damage. Because the floodgates are closed, there is no interchange to eastern carriers, so Union Pacific is continuing to review options for rerouting traffic.

Union Pacific had suspended operations at its intermodal terminal in Avondale, Louisiana.

Norfolk Southern said the intermodal terminal in New Orleans will remain closed through Tuesday. Customers with shipments destined to hurricane areas or through them should expect delays of 48-72 hours.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER
A Coast Guard spokesperson said the department is still in the early stages of assessing the navigability of the waterway, but that no blockages had been reported as of Tuesday morning.

PORT RESTRICTIONS, SHUTDOWNS
Ports threatened by Hurricane Ida have either restricted operations or shut them down.

Port	Status	Condition
New Orleans, Louisiana	Closed	Zulu
Plaquemines, Louisiana	Closed	Zulu
South Louisiana, Louisiana	Closed	Zulu
St Bernard, Louisiana	Closed	Zulu
Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Closed	Zulu
Pascagoula, Mississippi	Closed	Zulu
Biloxi, Mississippi	Closed	Zulu
Gulfport, Mississippi	Closed	Zulu
Mobile, Alabama	Open with Restrictions	Yankee
Pensacola, Florida	Open with Restrictions	X-Ray
Panama City, Florida	Open with Restrictions	X-Ray

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) has paused deliveries of crude until Hurricane Ida subsides, it said on Sunday.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port is the nation’s only deepwater oil port for supertankers. Some 50% of the nation’s refining capacity can be supplied by LOOP, which moves 12% of the nation’s annual crude oil imports.

POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGE
Ida’s size, strength and path could cause billions of dollars worth of damage.

The property data firm CoreLogic estimated on Friday that Ida’s storm surge is threatening 941,392 homes. If all of these homes were destroyed and replaced, CoreLogic estimates that the cost would be $220.37bn.

The reconstruction cost value represents a worst-case scenario, CoreLogic said. For reference, the firm estimated in 2020 that Hurricane Laura may have caused $8bn-12bn in insurable losses.

Home repairs, remodelling and construction make up an important end market for several chemicals and polymers.

The white pigment titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used in paints.

Solvents used in paints and coatings include butyl acetate (butac), butyl acrylate (butyl-A), ethyl acetate (etac), glycol ethers, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropanol (IPA).

Blends of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used to make paints and coatings.

For polymers, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PU) foam are used in insulation.

Polyurethanes are made of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyols.

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is used in pipe. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used to make cladding, window frames, wires and cables, flooring and roofing membranes.

Unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) are used to make coatings and composites.

Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is used to make paints and adhesives.

Additional reporting by Al Greenwood, Annalise Porter, Adam Yanelli