US Gulf refiners report no serious storm damage: Update

Adds detail on Shell, Citgo, Chevron and ExxonMobil refinery operations.

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.

ExxonMobil's 523,000 b/d Baton Rouge refinery is operating as normal and supplying customers, a company spokesperson said today. "There appears to be no significant damage or flooding at our Baton Rouge area facilities," the spokesperson said.

Oil major Shell also said today that there appears to be no serious damage at its Geismar chemicals plant, mothballed Convent refinery and 234,000 b/d Norco refinery in Louisiana. Before the storm, Shell limited personnel at the three plants as it 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.

Directly across the Mississippi River from Exxon, BP evacuated staff on Wednesday at a lubricants plant it operates in Port Allen.

In far west Louisiana, Citgo's 455,000 b/d Lake Charles refinery faced no damage and is returning to normal operations, the company said today. To the east of Louisiana and closer to the storm's path, Chevron's 357,000 b/d Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery is operational and supplying customers, the company said today.

While details of damages could still emerge for plants in Louisiana run by the likes of Marathon Petroleum, PBF, Valero and Delek, 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 earlier this 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