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Texas energy industry prepares for Beryl when it makes landfall

On Monday, the Texas energy sector prepared for the impact of Hurricane Beryl. The powerful storm could force the closure of important oil and gas shipping port, slow down refining, and even prompt the evacuation of certain production sites.

Beryl, a hurricane that made landfall in Texas near Matagorda with sustained winds up to 80 miles per hours (129 kilometers per hour), caused problems for the energy sector.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that the center of the storm was located about 85 miles southwest of Houston, Texas. It is expected to pass over eastern Texas Monday before moving over the Lower Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley in the later part the week.

Texas is the largest producer of oil and gas in the United States, with more than 40% of each.

Beryl is expected to make landfall in Corpus Christi this weekend. Houston, Galveston and Texas City ports were also closed ahead of Beryl's landfall.

Freeport LNG and Chemours Co both said that they had hurricane plans in place and were prepared to secure and adjust their staffing during the storm and afterwards.

Enbridge Inc., which operates crude oil export facilities in Corpus Christi and the surrounding area, said that it has activated its emergency plans to protect assets located along or near U.S. Gulf Coast.

Citgo Petroleum Corp., on the other hand, reduced production at its 165,000 barrels per day Corpus Christi refinery in Texas over the weekend, according to sources.

Shell and Chevron have also shut down production or evacuated personnel on their offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to PowerOutage.us, as of Sunday night, more than 26,000 homes or businesses in Texas were without electricity.

CenterPoint, an electric utility based in Texas, said via email that they were "closely watching the situation and making preparedness."

The storm will move north-east and further inland in eastern Texas and Arkansas on Monday and Tuesday. (Reporting and writing by Marriana Pargga, Erwin Seba and Arathy Smaasekhar in Bengaluru, with additional reporting by Kavya Baliaraman in Bengaluru, Laila Kearney, New York, and Himani Sarkar, Bernadette Baum, in New York)

(source: Reuters)