Updates Colonial pipeline details.
The port of Corpus Christi has opened its inner harbor with limited 20ft draft only for tugs and barges as it works towards achieving normal operations by 4 September.
The port sustained light to moderate damage from Hurricane Harvey which hit the Texas coast on 25 August and caused massive flooding in the Houston area. Harvey is now a tropical storm and is still causing flooding further up the Texas coast.
About 22 oil tankers carrying about 15.3mn bl of crude near Texas ports were unable to offload because of port closures as of 28 August, according to an advisory by the US Department of Energy.
Ports all along the Texas and Louisiana coasts were closed including the ports of Houston, Freeport, Texas City, Port Arthur, Lake Charles and Nederland, the agency said.
Shell Midstream Partners shut part of its Zydeco crude pipeline on 27 August because of flooding at connecting carrier facilities. That segment of the line will remain down until field operations can assess the facilities and right-of-way. The portion of the Zydeco that runs from Port Neches, Texas, to Houma, Louisiana, is operating.
Magellan Midstream Partners said it is making progress to safely return its terminal and its 50,000 b/d condensate splitter in Corpus Christi to normal operations.
Magellan over the weekend suspended all inbound and outbound crude and refined products pipeline services in the Houston area, including the 400,000 b/d BridgeTex and 225,000 b/d Longhorn crude lines from the Permian basin. Magellan also shut its Houston oil distribution system as well as operations at its Galena Park and East Houston facilities.
Magellan said it is receiving west Texas crude into its storage facility at the origin of Longhorn in Crane, Texas.
Crude deliveries from the 850,000 b/d Seaway pipeline system are mostly in service but may be on allocation or shut "from time to time" because of disruptions of electrical power to pump stations or restrictions at receipt points, Enterprise Products Partners said.
The twin-line Seaway system is a key conduit of crude from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Texas refineries and the US Gulf coast. Enterprise co-owns the system with Enbridge.
Enterprise's marine terminals are out of service because the Houston Ship Channel and the Port of Beaumont are closed to ship traffic.
The company's marine terminals at Texas City and Freeport are also shut.
Enterprise said none of its facilities on the Texas Gulf coast have incurred any significant damage from the storm, according to initial assessments.
Kinder Morgan said its terminals along the Houston Ship Channel and Gulf coast are manned and secured, and the company is mobilizing resources to resume full operations.
For crude and condensate operations in south Texas, Kinder Morgan is accepting pipeline receipts at Helena, Gardendale, Smiley and DeWitt, and all truck lanes are open and available to offload product at all of the facilities of the Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate (KMCC) pipeline system and the Double Eagle pipeline. KMCC moves from the Eagle Ford shale to the Houston area.
The 660,000 b/d Explorer pipeline last night shut down its main products line between the US Gulf coast and Oklahoma as flooding from tropical storm Harvey disrupted refineries across southeastern Texas.
The 5,500-mile Colonial pipeline system, a major source of gasoline and other products for the southeast and the New York Harbor market, today shut injection points west of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The company said it lacked product and needs to assess damages on the southern mainlines of its massive system moving products to the US Atlantic coast.
Product continued to move east of Lake Charles. The pipeline operator said it assumed it would not receive product at its Houston or Hebert stations in Texas through the weekend, slowing or shutting pipelines along the system.
