US Gulf fuel infrastructure stable post-hurricane

Refined products supply in Louisiana appears stable and largely unaffected by Hurricane Francine which made landfall last night as a Category 2 hurricane on the US Gulf coast.

Fuel terminals and racks distributing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel in the state were largely unaffected, sources said this morning. Some terminals shut loadings during the peak of the storm late Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday but were back online or restoring operations today.

Before the storm, oil major Shell said limited personnel were working at its Geismar chemicals plant, mothballed Convent refinery and 234,000 b/d Norco refinery in Louisiana on Wednesday as the facilities prepared for landfall from Francine.

Refineries often have "ride out" crews in place during a major weather event and a smaller number of essential operators continue to oversee the plant.

BP evacuated staff on Wednesday at a lubricants plant it operates in Port Allen. Directly across the Mississippi River, ExxonMobil's 523,000 b/d Baton Rouge refinery was preparing for severe weather, but was operating and meeting customer commitments on Wednesday, prior to landfall.

Other refiners with operations in Louisiana such as Marathon Petroleum, Chevron and Citgo had their eyes on the storm as it headed towards the coast. While details of damage at plants could still emerge, market participants this morning said they expect a return to normal for operations in the coming days.

With peak summer demand season over, refiners cutting runs due to narrow margins and the fall turnaround season underway, market participants were less worried about refineries curtailing operations or shutting terminals headed into Hurricane Francine compared to Hurricane Beryl in the summer.

Beryl also threatened the Texas coast, home to 6mn b/d of refining capacity — about a third of the US total — compared to Louisiana's 3mn b/d.

By Nathan Risser