On Monday, the energy industry in Texas prepared for the impact of storm Beryl, which threatened to shut down important oil and gas shipping ports, slow refining, and force some production sites to be evacuated.
When Beryl makes landfall in the early morning hours on the middle Texas coast, national forecasters say it could become a Category 2 hurricane, posing a threat to the nation’s energy sector’s core.
Over 40% and 20% of all oil and natural gas produced in the United States are produced in Texas. In preparation for Beryl, the nation’s most important hub for the export of crude oil, Corpus Christi port shut down operations and vessel traffic over the weekend.
Before the landfall, the ports of Houston, Galveston, Freeport, and Texas City also shut down. Substance organization Chemours Co (CC.N), opens new tab said on Sunday that it was ready to change staffing and secure gear during and after the tempest passed, while Freeport LNG said it had its tropical storm readiness plan set up.
Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO), which manages crude oil export facilities near Corpus Christi, also stated that emergency plans had been activated for assets along or near the United States.
Coast of Gulf Sources claimed that Citgo Petroleum Corp. was reducing production at its 165,000 barrels per day Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery over the weekend. Shell (SHEL.L) and Chevron (CVX.N), both producers, shut down production or evacuated employees from their offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
In excess of 26,000 homes and organizations were without power in Texas starting around Sunday night, as per PowerOutage.us. Texas-based electric utility CenterPoint said in an email that it was “intently checking what is going on and making arrangements.”
The tempest is figure to turn north-toward the east and move farther inland over eastern Texas and Arkansas late Monday and Tuesday.
