More than two dozen oil vessels were clustered off Louisiana seaports on Aug. 31 as the U.S. Coast Guard and port operators assessed damages wreaked by Hurricane Ida, according to sources and Refinitiv Eikon data.
Dozens of ports from Louisiana to Alabama closed as Ida tore through the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the coast on Aug. 29. A few have reopened with restrictions on vessel drafts.
Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon, Louisiana, packing 150-mile-per-hour (240 km-per hour) winds that knocked out power to a substantial part of the state. The outages have slowed port, refinery and pipeline operators' ability to resume operations.
Some 30 tankers remained moored off the Louisiana coast waiting to load or discharge cargoes, with the largest bottlenecks near Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. Refiners served by those ports include Exxon Mobil Corp. and Citgo Petroleum Corp.
The ports of Lake Charles and Cameron in Louisiana, and Biloxi and Pascagoula in Mississippi, reopened this week to vessel traffic.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the only deepwater port that accommodates supertankers, remained closed, although an initial review found no major damage to marine operations, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Louisiana ports of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Plaquemines, South Louisiana, St. Bernard, Venice, Houma, Morgan City, Port Fourchon and the South West Pass Lightering Area, remained shut to vessel traffic. A portion of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway off Mobile, Alabama, was also closed, the Coast Guard said.
Most of the anchored tankers were waiting outside the Mississippi River, the United States’ most important commercial waterway. Power lines from a downed transmission tower near Avondale, Louisiana, were still in the river on Aug. 31.
Analysis firm ClipperData said on Aug. 30 it expects no oil imports to be discharged at the affected ports in the coming days. Several refineries this week have said they were working on re-establishing basic operations after shutdowns.
Recommended Reading
Kinder Morgan Exec: Don’t Count Out Midstream in M&A Frenzy
2024-04-02 - Kinder Morgan’s Allen Fore said 2024 should be an ‘interesting’ year in M&A during a discussion at DUG GAS+ Conference and Expo.
Enbridge Plans to Increase Permian Oil Pipeline’s Capacity
2024-05-10 - Midstream company Enbridge announced an open season on the Gray Oak Pipeline for a proposed 120,000 bbl/d expansion and updated its M&A efforts.
Venture Global Acquires Nine LNG-powered Vessels
2024-03-18 - Venture Global plans to deliver the vessels, which are currently under construction in South Korea, starting later this year.
Imperial Oil Shuts Down Fuel Pipeline in Central Canada
2024-03-18 - Supplies on the Winnipeg regional line will be rerouted for three months.
Hess Midstream Subsidiary to Buy Back $100MM of Class B Units
2024-03-13 - Hess Midstream subsidiary Hess Midstream Operations will repurchase approximately 2 million Class B units equal to 1.2% of the company.