Gulf coast energy sector recovering from Laura: Update

Adds detail throughout.

Motiva began restarting the largest US refinery over the weekend as the western US Gulf coast continued recovery from Hurricane Laura's destruction.

The company, Saudi Aramco's US refining subsidiary, reported startup work on 29 August at its 600,000 b/d refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. It was the last facility in a cluster of 1.5mn b/d of US refining capacity located just outside the worst of the hurricane's damage to begin restarting.

Another 810,000 b/d of western Louisiana refinery capacity could remain off line for weeks as crews repair damage to the facilities and the surrounding electrical grid.

About 16pc of US refining capacity reduced crude processing or idled units before the powerful hurricane churned ashore just east of the Texas-Louisiana border early on 27 August. Ports from Houston to western Louisiana battened down with various levels of restrictions, limiting movements through ports responsible for 41pc of US crude exports in the first half of this year.

The Ports of Houston and Galveston in Texas and New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Gramercy and Morgan City were operating without restriction today. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (Loop) restarted operations at facilities that handled 7pc of US crude exports in the first half of this year.

The Ports of Beaumont and Port Arthur in Texas, which handled about 13pc of US crude exports in the first half of this year, were operating with restrictions, according to an energy department update today. The Port of Lake Charles, which handles about 394,000 b/d of imported crude, according to the US Department of Energy, remained shut.

Offshore workers were restarting US Gulf of Mexico platforms after shutting in a peak of 84pc of crude production and about 61pc of natural gas production as Laura gained strength in the US Gulf coast in the week ahead of its Louisiana landfall. About 70pc of US Gulf of Mexico oil production and 50pc of gas production remained shut in yesterday.

Regional power grid utility Entergy as of yesterday had no estimate for how long it would take to repair power infrastructure near Lake Charles, Louisiana, which bore the brunt of Laura's 150mph (240km/h) at landfall. About 14pc of Louisiana customers were without power yesterday, or about half of the roughly 27pc of customers statewide without power immediately after the storm.

Power outages will likely extend refinery restart efforts at Citgo's 425,000 b/d and Phillips 66's 249,000 b/d Lakes Charles refineries. Citgo has confirmed damaged at its refinery. A nearby chemical fire slowed Phillips 66's damage assessment at the Lake Charles refinery.

Calcasieu Refining's 136,000 b/d refinery in Lake Charles was idled at the beginning of August, unrelated to the storm. Eastern Texas refineries that idled or reduced rates but escaped damage may take a week to carefully restore operations from storm shutdowns.

Colonial Pipeline restarted its Line 1 and Line 2 trunk lines moving gasoline from near Houston through the US Gulf coast and into a system delivering throughout the southeast and Atlantic coast up into the New York Harbor market. Kinder Morgan's Plantation Pipeline, which begins near Baton Rouge, continued operation through the storm.

By Elliott Blackburn