Houston (ICIS)-The U.S. Security and Environmental Enforcement Agency (BSEE) said on Monday that due to Hurricane Ida, producers have shut down nearly 95% of U.S. Gulf oil production and nearly 94% of natural gas production.
The following shows the number of evacuated platforms and rigs, including the total amount of oil and gas that have been shut down.
Storm Ida made landfall near Port Fuljeong, Louisiana on Sunday, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 150 mph (241 km/h), making it a Category 4 hurricane with the size of the Safir-Simpson storm.
Ada has weakened into a tropical storm and is moving north-northeast over the western Mississippi. The storm is currently located about 20 miles west-southwest of Jackson, Mississippi.
Ada is expected to travel through northeastern Mississippi tonight, through the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday, and near the central Appalachian Mountains on Wednesday.
The maximum sustained wind speed is close to 40 mph, with higher wind gusts. Ida is expected to become a tropical depression this afternoon.
The following figure shows the path of the storm.
Plant closure Rubicon closed its Geismar, Louisiana plant due to the storm. The plant produces methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), polyether polyol, aniline, and nitrobenzene. Rubicon is a joint venture between Huntsman and LANXESS.
Cornerstone announced force majeure for products at its Wagman plant in Louisiana. Its acrylonitrile (ACN) and melamine plants have been closed before the storm.
Shintech closed its Addis and Plaquemine factories in Louisiana. The company stated that it has controlled the closure of operations due to the storm. No restart date is given.
These plants produce ethylene, chlorine, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
The company stated that Westlake closed its Geismar and Plaquemine plants because of Ida. Plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast maintain plans for hurricanes and tornadoes.
These factories produce caustic soda, EDC, PVC, and VCM. Westlake did not provide an expected restart date.
According to a customer letter, Pinnacle Polymers declared force majeure for all products following the impact of Hurricane Ida on Louisiana. The company is currently unable to predict when normal production will resume.
The plant produces polypropylene (PP).
Dow closed its St Charles and Plaquemine plants in Taft, Louisiana. Both sites have biscuits and factories that produce polyethylene (PE).
The St. Charles plant also produces chemicals such as acetic acid, acrylic acid, ethylene oxide (EO), glycol ethers and surfactants.
The Plaquemine plant also produces benzene, toluene, EO, glycol ethers, propylene glycol (PG) and propylene oxide (PO) and other chemicals.
In Baton Rouge, ExxonMobil is shutting down its refinery equipment to stabilize operations. The company said in a statement that it did not cause any damage during Hurricane Ida.
On Sunday, Exxon Mobil said it was adjusting interest rates and closing some units of its complex.
The ExxonMobil plant has an oil refinery and a chemical complex that produces ethylene, propylene, butadiene (BD), PE, polypropylene (PP), phthalic anhydride (PA), plasticizers, benzene, Toluene, isopropanol (IPA), base oil and various other chemicals.
BASF closed the Geismar plant. It produces butanediol (BDO), EO, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyether polyols.
Phillips 66 closed the Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. In addition to fuel, the refinery also produces benzene, mixed xylene (MX) toluene and propylene.
Shell closed its plants in Geismar and Norco.
Geismar produces linear alpha olefins (LAO), ethylene glycol (EG), EO and glycol ethers.
Norco produces ethylene, propylene and BD.
Power outage After Hurricane Ida landed in Louisiana on Sunday, more than 1 million electricity customers in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi were cut off.
According to data from PowerOutage.US, there are currently 1,034,268 customers outages in Louisiana—affecting about half of the state—and 109,746 customers outages in Mississippi.
Entergy, a major power distributor in Louisiana, stated that the storm caused widespread power outages. The worst-hit areas may experience power outages for up to three weeks, but 90% of customers will recover sooner.
Major transmission lines in the New Orleans area were out of service, with 216 substations, 207 transmission lines and more than 2,000 miles of transmission lines out of service.
Port restrictions and closures Ports threatened by Hurricane Ida will either restrict operations or close them.
The following table shows the status of several ports.
Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) said on Sunday that it had suspended crude oil deliveries before Hurricane Ida subsided.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port is the only deep-water oil port for supertankers in the United States. About 50% of the national refining capacity can be provided by LOOP, which moves 12% of the country's annual crude oil imports.
Rail Renewal The Kansas City Southern Company said on Monday that due to excessive rainfall and wind caused by Hurricane Ida, Kansas City Southern has suspended railway operations on some of its lines.
Kansas City South said that mainline operations and transfers from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Gulfport/Hattisburg, Mississippi have been suspended.
The company cannot perform maintenance until the water recedes.
After the line is reopened, customers should expect delays until the backlog of work in southern Kansas City passes and normal speed is restored in the disaster-stricken area of Ida.
The New Orleans Flood Control Authority has closed the flood gates in the area, which will interrupt all east and west rail routes through New Orleans, including transfer routes from other operators.
On Sunday, Norfolk Southern said that flood gates that disrupted its rail operations should be closed at least until Monday.
Norfolk Southern said its terminal in New Orleans will be closed until Monday. Customers who ship goods to or through hurricane areas are expected to be delayed by 48-72 hours.
BNSF was originally scheduled to suspend all rail operations between Lafayette, Louisiana and New Orleans at 1200 local time on Saturday.
Union Pacific was originally scheduled to suspend operations at its multimodal terminal in Avondale, Louisiana, at 1600 local time on Friday.
Late Monday, Union Pacific said that engineers had begun to inspect the railway tracks to assess any storm damage. Since the gate has been closed, it is not possible to transfer with Eastern Airlines, so United Pacific Airlines is continuing to review options for rerouting traffic.
On Friday, CSX said it is taking steps to prepare for Ida. It did not announce any suspension.
In the United States, chemical railcars account for about 20% of the chemical transportation tonnage, and the rest is transported by trucks, barges and pipelines.
Potential damage to Ada's size, strength, and path could cause damage worth billions of dollars.
Real estate data company CoreLogic estimated on Friday that the storm surge in Ida is threatening 941,392 houses. If all these houses are destroyed and replaced, CoreLogic estimates that the cost will reach $220.37 billion.
CoreLogic says that the reconstruction cost value represents the worst-case scenario. For reference, the company estimated in 2020 that Hurricane Laura could cause insurable losses of US$8 billion to US$12 billion.
Home repair, renovation and construction are important end markets for many 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 ether, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropanol (IPA).
Mixtures of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used in the manufacture of paints and coatings.
For polymers, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PUR) foams are used for insulation.
Polyurethane is made of MDI, TDI and polyol.
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is used for pipes. PVC is used in the manufacture of cladding, window frames, wires and cables, floor and roof membranes.
Unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) is used in the manufacture of coatings and composite materials.
Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is used in the manufacture of paints and adhesives.
Additional reporting by Adam Burkin, Tracy Dang, Michael Sims, Antoinette Smith and Alex Snodgrass, Lucas Hall, Bill Bowen, Zachary Moore, Al Greenwood.
The thumbnail shows the wire that was knocked down by Ada. Photo by Steve Helber/Associated Press/Shutterstock
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