MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy companies are having a hard time getting workers and supplies to offshore production platforms and refineries to make repairs after Hurricane Ida due to extensive storm damage to onshore infrastructure, reported Reuters with reference to executives' statement.
Some firms are still early in assessing damage from Ida, three days after the storm tore through the US Gulf of Mexico, pushing several feet of water into coastal plants and toppling transmission towers inland. Its 150-mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds were the strongest since Laura hit the state a year ago.
Roughly 1.7 million barrels of offshore oil production is offline, and damage around transportation and support hubs, including Houma and Port Fourchon, could slow efforts to restore production.
Shell said the storm inflicted "significant damage" to a heliport in Houma, Louisiana, used to transport workers to offshore platforms, and said it must establish a new facility before returning workers to production sites.
Offshore oil producers returned staff to only 10 platforms and two drilling rigs over Monday and Tuesday. Platforms run by BP PLC, BHP Group, Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell and Occidental Petroleum Corp were evacuated last week. Offshore facilities in the region contribute 16% of US production.
Port Fourchon, a supply base for offshore energy companies, suffered extensive damage and the main road was not passable on Tuesday. Officials were limiting access to emergency vehicles, saying it could be weeks before roads are fully passable.
Loss of power and mobile phone service has prevented companies from reaching workers needed to conduct damage assessments. Swamped coastal roads and wind-damaged docks also hampered securing workers and supplies, the executives said. Power restoration has been slow, limiting efforts to restore operations at refineries. Nearly 1 million Louisiana homes and businesses remained without power on Wednesday.
Some 1.7 million barrels of daily oil processing is offline at seven Louisiana refineries, the US Department of Energy said. Consultancy Rystad Energy forecast losses will continue for seven to 14 days, depending on flood damage.
Gulf Coast refiners ExxonMobil Corp, PBF Energy Inc and Royal Dutch Shell PLC halted oil processing at plants in the storm's path, cutting about 9% of US refining capacity.
Power outages in some areas may persist for up to six weeks. Full recovery of processing capacity will depend on how quickly outside power is restored, with some plants taking four weeks to recover.
As MRC informed earlier, Colonial Pipeline, the nation's largest fuel line, has restarted its main gasoline and distillate lines after it shut the lines as a safety precaution ahead of Hurricane Ida.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
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