Exxon, Shell Refineries Resume Gulf Coast Operation

Refineries that had to dial down operations ahead of Hurricane Francine’s landfall are starting to reopen, with significant damages unlikely, according to a Reuters report.

Exxon, which had cut operation rates at its Baton Rouge refinery to just a fifth of capacity, had now brought the refinery back online. “Our Baton Rouge area facilities are operating as normal. We continue to meet customer commitments,” a spokeswoman for the company told Reuters.

Shell is currently examining its Norco refinery after it had to shut down its diesel production hydrocracker because of the storm. “At this early stage, there does not appear to be serious damage from wind, rain or storm surge at the facilities,” Shell told Reuters.

The status of Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville refinery remains unclear, after the company declined to discuss it and Reuters sources appeared to have no information about it. There were power outages in the Garyville area, the publication noted. The refinery is the fourth-largest in the country.

Gulf of Mexico field operators are also preparing to restart shut in platforms. The shut-ins affected over 700,000 bpd in production capacity, which represented more than 40% of total capacity.

Oil ports were also closed because of the hurricane and are now reopening. The largest one, Port of Corpus Christi, lifted restrictions on Thursday, Reuters reported, as did the ports in Freeport Houston, and Sabine. This should put downward pressure on oil prices soon enough.

This year’s hurricane season has failed to live up to expectations, with fewer serious storms than some forecasters expected. In fact, these forecasters expected a record hurricane season, with up to 33 named storms. Instead, the season saw the fewest storms in 50 years, according to AccuWeather. The weather service has predicted two to four more direct impacts on the U.S. coastal states by the end of this hurricane season.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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