US Gulf Coast energy facilities hit by hurricane Francine

(Reuters) – Energy facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast have scaled back operations and evacuated some production sites as Hurricane Francine passed through the region.

Fancine strengthened into a hurricane on Tuesday night and is moving toward the Louisiana coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

About 24% of crude production and 26% of output in the Gulf of Mexico were offline due to the storm, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Tuesday. Such interruptions have the potential to affect U.S. oil supplies, leading to upward pressure on prices for domestic oil and offshore crude grades.

Offshore production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) or about 15% of the nation’s total crude output.

The port of Brownsville near the border with Mexico and other smaller terminals in Texas remained closed, while other ports, including Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Texas City and Freeport, were working with restrictions. Ports in Houma, Morgan City and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port were closed to navigation, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

“As Francine moves north through the Gulf of Mexico, we will continue to work closely with our maritime industry partners to fully reopen impacted ports as soon as it is safe to do so,” the U.S. Coast Guard said.

OPERATOR FACILITY CAPACITY DATE DETAILS

Who Dat wells – Sept. 10 All Who Dat wells

Karoon Energy Ltd shut-in

and evacuated

platform, currently anticipate

that Who Dat will be shut in for a

week

BP (NYSE:) Schriever, – Sept. 10 Evacuating

Louisiana its onshore learning

and maintenance facilities

ExxonMobil (NYSE:) Hoover offshore platform – Sept. 09 Shut-in output and evacuated staff

Baton Rouge, 522,500 Sept. 10 Cuts production

Louisiana refinery barrel-per-day (bpd) to as low as 20%

Chevron (NYSE:) Gulf of Mexico – Sept. 09 Evacuating

facilitiesAnchor platform, non-essential staff from four

Tahiti oil platform offshore platforms, shutting in

oil and gas output at two offshore

production platforms

Shell (LON:) Perdido oil platform, Whale 125,000 barrels of oil Sept. 10 Evacuating

platform, Auger and equivalent per day non-essential personnel from three

Enchailada/Salsa assets (boe/d) for Perdido oil offshore oil platforms, paused

platform; 100,000 boe/d drilling operations at Whale

for Whale platform platform, shut in production at

three assets.

Freeport (LNG) LNG export plant in Texas 2.1 billion cubic feet Sept. 09 Begun storm preparations at its

per day Texas plant

Cameron (LNG) LNG export plant in Louisiana – Sept. 10 Amount of natural gas flowing to

the export plant dropped

Enbridge (NYSE:) Inc South Marsh Island 76,Ship – Sept. 10 Pulled employees from

Shoal 207, 332 platforms several offshore U.S. Gulf of

Mexico platforms

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:) Marine terminal in Myrtle – Sept. 10 Shut its international

Grove, Louisiana marine terminal in Myrtle Grove,

Louisiana

Citgo Lake Charles, Louisiana 463,000 barrels of oil Sept. 10 Adjusting operations

refinery per day as required

Woodside (OTC:) Energy U.S. offshore, Louisiana – Sept. 10 -Partially evacuating personnel

coastal operations from its Shenzi oil production

facility -Fully evacuating staff

from its coastal shorebase and

warehouse facilities in Louisiana

Cheniere Energy (NYSE:) Sabine Pass LNG terminal, 4.7 billion cubic feet Sept. 10 LNG production at Sabine Pass

Louisiana per day remains uninterrupted