Francine sets sights on Louisiana coast: Update

Updates the status of ports in Texas.

Hurricane Francine, which has already shut in almost a quarter of the Gulf of Mexico's oil output, is set to strengthen before making landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday evening.

Francine was about 150 miles southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, according to an 10am ET advisory from the National Hurricane Center, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. The hurricane will bring 5-10 foot storm surge to coastal areas from Vermillion Bay to Port Fourchon, Louisiana, and after landfall is expected to move northward across Mississippi on Thursday and Thursday night bringing heavy rains.

Ports along the hurricane's path announced traffic restrictions in advance, with some setting out plans to close until it passes, including the port of New Orleans.

With the storm's track locked in toward Louisiana, the port of Houston was expected to reopen to inbound vessels at 1pm ET today and to outbound vessels at 3:30pm, a ship agent said. It closed to traffic at 1pm Tuesday. The ports of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange also plan to reopen Wednesday.

About 412,070 b/d of offshore oil output was off line by midday on Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), as offshore operators including Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil evacuated workers and curbed operations as a precaution. About 494mn cf/d of natural gas production, or 26pc of the region's output, was also off line.

The Gulf of Mexico accounts for around 15pc of total US crude output and 5pc of US natural gas production.

By Stephen Cunningham and Tray Swanson