Latest News

U.S. Coast Guard says typhoon may shut oil ports

The U.S. Coast Guard alerted of possible Texas port closures from Corpus Christi to Houston since of Typhoon Beryl, which is anticipated to make landfall by Monday early morning south of Port Lavaca.

Port closures could give a short-term halt shipments of petroleum to refineries and motor fuels from those plants.

Shell Plc completed the evacuation of employees from its Perdido production platform in the U.S.-regulated Gulf of Mexico ahead of the approach of Hurricane Beryl, the business stated on Friday night.

Production on Perdido was shut prior to the evacuations. Shell stated it also evacuated employees from the Whale platform, which is due to begin production later on this year.

Gibson Energy, which runs a big oil terminal in Corpus Christi, said operations were continuing, but it would take further steps depending on the projection.

The latest projection would put Corpus Christi on the dry side of the storm where the lowest winds and least rain might be anticipated. However Beryl might still bring gale-force winds to the port, which is why the Coast Guard would shut it.

The majority of the northern Gulf's overseas oil and gas production is east of Beryl's forecast track.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore production of about 1.8 million barrels daily accounts for about 14% of overall U.S. crude output, according to data from the U.S. Energy Details Administration. Any impact on products might push up costs of U.S. oil and offshore unrefined grades.

Oil major Chevron Corp, amongst the greatest U.S. overseas manufacturers, said on Friday that production from its operated properties remained at normal levels. It said it had evacuated nonessential workers from a few of its Gulf of Mexico facilities.

(source: Reuters)