Recovery of US offshore oil begins with ports and the restart of refineries

HOUSTON, Sept. 4 (Reuters) – Energy companies on the U.S. Gulf Coast benefited from the reopening of ports and the restart of oil refineries shut down by Hurricane Ida on Saturday, but damage to key facilities has always held back oil production.

The ninth named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season reduced U.S. oil and gas production more than any of the eight named storms to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast last year. After making landfall in Louisiana last Sunday, Ida raced toward the northeastern United States, causing fatal flooding. Read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), the largest US producer on the Gulf Coast, was still assessing the damage to its West Delta-143 offshore platform, which during operation transfers around 200,000 barrels of oil and gas daily from three offshore oil fields.

Shell’s work on a replacement helipad needed for offshore transport continues, Shell said. Damage to its original facility prevented the return of offshore workers to the platforms.

Several Louisiana helipads were damaged or lacked power or access to fuel, slowing the return of crews from several major oil producers. Read more

REFINERS BEGIN TO RESTART

Shell’s 230,611 barrel per day (bpd) oil processing plant in Norco, Louisiana was also left destroyed by the storm. The refinery suffered damage and assessments are continuing on its condition and at a chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, the company said.

The White House agreed this week to supply 1.8 million barrels of crude oil from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to refiners Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Placid Refining Company (PRC.UL) for produce gasoline.

Nine refineries were disconnected by Ida winds and utility power losses. Five, including those belonging to Exxon, Placid and Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N), could be back online within two weeks, said Robert Campbell, head of petroleum product research at consulting firm Energy. Aspects.

About 21% of offshore platforms went unoccupied, and 93% of oil production and 86% of natural gas production were offline, government data showed on Saturday. Some Gulf of Mexico wells, which account for about a fifth of U.S. production, could be shut down for weeks, analysts say.

OPENING OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Ports in lower Mississippi and New Orleans have been reopened to traffic and cargo operations, the Coast Guard said, allowing shipments of grain, metals and energy to resume.

“It was imperative for the economy of the region and the entire United States that the river be reopened in a timely manner,” said Brett Bourgeois, executive director of the New Orleans Board of Trade maritime trade group.

More than 5,000 deep draft vessels carry cargo in and out of the five main ports, he said.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), near where Ida made landfall with winds of 150 miles per hour (240 km / h), was continuing repairs and assessments of its facilities, he said. he declared Saturday.

LOOP is America’s only deep-water oil port, with an unloading platform capable of handling over 1 million barrels per day of crude. Its marine terminal is 18 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

POWER RETURNS SLOWLY

Utility Entergy Corp (ETR.N) said on Saturday that most of Baton Rouge is expected to be reestablished by Tuesday, followed by most of New Orleans by Wednesday. However, the areas in between could be without power until the end of the month. More than 700,000 homes and businesses in Louisiana remain without power, according to PowerOutage.com.

U.S. meteorologists were warning of a new tropical disturbance, which is expected to move north across the Gulf of Mexico next week, which could bring more rain to Louisiana.

The National Hurricane Center in the United States has given the disturbance at least a 30% chance of becoming a tropical depression. If it becomes a tropical storm, with winds of at least 39 miles per hour (63 km / h), it will be called Mindy.

Reporting by Erwin Seba Editing by Gary McWilliams, Alistair Bell and Richard Chang

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