Hurricane Sally forces Louisianas oil industry to shut down
Most of the states refineries and offshore wells are being put on standby.
The US government says that 21%, or 395.8K bbl / day, of offshore crude oil production and 25%, or 685M cf / day, of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico have been closed since Tropical Storm Sally closed before its expected landfall Tuesday morning becomes a hurricane east of New Orleans. Refineries in the area are ceasing: The Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) oil refinery has closed alliance, and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has reportedly reduced production at its Norco refinery to a minimum . Valero Energy's Meraux Refinery (NYSE: VLO) and PBF Energy's Chalmette Refinery (NYSE: PBF), both on the Louisiana coast, are continuing normal operations, Reuters reports. Shell, Chevron (NYSE: CVX), BP, Equinor (NYSE: EQNR), and Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR) have cut production and evacuated some workers from offshore platforms. Marine operations at the Louisiana offshore oil terminal - the only US port capable of fully loading very large crude oil tankers - have ceased operations and the New Orleans port has been closed; Both ports together exported 307,000 bbl / day of crude oil and 411,000 bbl / day of refined products and imported 342,000 bbl / day of crude oil in the period June-August. Sally is the second hurricane to hit the area in less than a month; Hurricane Laura last month forced ~ 1.5 million bbl / day production to temporarily shut down.