Power outages continue to impact Louisiana, Texas

Power outages in Louisiana and Texas continue to impact energy infrastructure a week after Hurricane Laura pummeled the region as a category 4 storm.

About 180,000 customers in Louisiana, or about 8.5pc of the state, are still without electrical power, according to a Department of Energy update. In Texas, only about 6,400 customers remained without power this morning.

Regional power grid utility Entergy said it had about 103,000 Louisiana customers without power as of 9am ET today, down from a peak of about 270,000. But some of the hardest hit areas will take longer to recover including the power grid that supplies almost 1mn b/d of US refining capacity in the Lake Charles area.

Entergy has estimated it would take two to three weeks to return power to the first customers in the Lake Charles because of "catastrophic damages" to nine transmission lines and surrounding power infrastructure. Many power structures in the area were beyond repair, the company said. Lake Charles was hit hard by Laura when it made landfall on 27 August packing sustained winds of 150mph (241 km/h).

Phillips 66 said yesterday that its 16.8mn bl crude and refined products Beaumont terminal in Nederland, Texas, has resumed operations although it remains limited by electric power curtailments. "Timelines for other operational restarts remain largely dependent on resources including access to electricity and other utilities in the region," the company said.

Sections of the Zydeco crude pipeline from Houston, Texas to Louisiana returned to service on 2 September at reduced rates, Shell Midstream Partners said. The 20-inch diameter section of the Zydeco line from Houston to Port Neches, Louisiana, and the 22-inch diameter section from Port Neches to Houma, Louisiana, will continue to operate at reduced rates "to support efforts to restore electrical service to the area," Shell Midstream said.

Energy Transfer's 480,000 b/d Bayou Bridge pipeline, which moves crude from Nederland to St James, Louisiana, also returned to service after the storm left the region, the company said.

By Eunice Bridges