Nearly all U.S. Gulf oil, gas production shuts down after Hurricane Ida

Producers have shut down nearly 95 percent of current oil production and nearly 94 percent of natural gas production in the U.
S.
Gulf due to Hurricane Ida, the U.
S.
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Monday
.

hurricane

Ida made landfall near Port Fortune, Louisiana, on Sunday with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, making it a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson storm scale
.

Factory shutdown

Rubicon closed its Geismar, Louisiana plant due to the storm
.
The plant produces methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), polyether polyols, aniline, nitrobenzene
.
Rubicon is a joint venture between Huntsman and Lanxess
.

Cornerstone declared force majeure on products from its Waggaman, Louisiana facility
.
Its acrylonitrile (ACN) and melamine plants were shutting down before the storm
.

Shin-Etsu USA closed its Addis and Plaquemine plants in Louisiana
.
Due to the impact of the storm, the company made a controlled shutdown
.
Currently, no date has been given for the restart
.
These plants produce ethylene, chlorine, caustic soda, vinylidene chloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
.

Westlake said it closed its Geismar and Plaquemine plants because of Ada's impact
.
These factories produce caustic soda, EDC, PVC, VCM
.
Westlake Chemical did not provide an expected restart date
.

Pinnacle Polymers declared force majeure on all products following Hurricane Ida in Louisiana, according to a customer letter
.
The company cannot currently predict when normal production will resume
.
This factory mainly produces PP
.

Dow closed operations at its St.
Charles plant and Plaquemine facility in Taft, Louisiana
.
Both locations have crackers and factories that produce PE
.
The St.
Charles facility also produces chemicals such as acetic acid, acrylic acid, ethylene oxide (EO), glycol ethers and surfactants
.
The Plaquemine plant also produces chemicals such as benzene, toluene, ethylene oxide, glycol ethers, propylene glycol (PG) and propylene oxide (PO)
.

In Baton Rouge, Exxon Mobil is shutting down units at its refinery to stabilize operations
.
The company said in a statement that Hurricane Ida has not caused any damage to the company
.

On Sunday, Exxon said it was adjusting run rates and closing some units at its complex
.

The ExxonMobil plant has an oil refinery and a chemical plant that produces ethylene, propylene, butadiene, PE, PP, PA, plasticizers, benzene, toluene, IPA, base oils and various other chemicals
.

BASF idled its Geismar plant
.
It produces butanediol (BDO), ethylene oxide (EO), methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyether polyols
.

Phillips 66 closed its Union refinery in Belchas, Louisiana
.
In addition to fuel, the refinery also produces benzene, mixed xylene (MX) toluene and propylene
.

Shell closed its Geismar and Norco plants
.
Geismar produces linear alpha-olefins (LAO), ethylene glycol (EG), ethylene oxide and glycol ethers
.
Norco produces ethylene, propylene and BD
.

power failure

After Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana last Sunday, more than 1 million power customers lost power in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi
.

According to poweroutup.
US, 1,034,268 customers are currently without power in Louisiana, affecting half of the state, while 109,746 customers are without power in Mississippi
.

Entergy, a major power distributor in Louisiana, said the storm caused widespread power outages that could last as long as three weeks in the hardest-hit areas, though 90 percent of customers would be restored soon
.

Major transmission lines in the New Orleans area were disrupted, with 216 substations, 207 transmission lines and more than 2,000 miles of transmission lines out of service
.

Port restrictions, closures

Ports threatened by Hurricane Ida have either restricted operations or closed
.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) said on Sunday that it has suspended crude oil shipments until Hurricane Ida subsides
.

The port is the only deepwater port for supertankers in the United States
.
About 50% of the country's refining capacity can be supplied by LOOP, which transports 12% of the country's crude oil imports annually
.

potential damage

The scale, intensity and path of Ada could cause billions of dollars worth of damage
.

Real estate data firm CoreLogic estimated on Friday that Ida's storm surge was threatening 941,392 homes
.
If all those homes were destroyed and left to be repaired, the cost would be $220.
37 billion
.

CoreLogic says this rebuild cost value represents a worst-case scenario
.
For reference, the company estimated in 2020 that Hurricane Laura could cause $8 billion to $12 billion in insurable losses
.

Home repair, remodeling and construction constitute important end markets for several chemicals and polymers
.

The white pigment titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used in paints
.

Solvents used in paints and coatings include butyl acetate (butac), butyl acrylate (butyl-A), ethyl acetate (etac), glycol ethers, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), and isopropanol (IPA)
.

Mixtures of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used to make paints and coatings
.

On the polymer side, expanded polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PUR) foams are used for insulation
.
Polyurethanes are made from MDI, TDI and polyols
.

HDPE is used in pipes
.
PVC is used to make cladding, window frames, wire and cable, flooring and roofing membranes
.

Unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) are used in the manufacture of coatings and composites
.

Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is used to make paints and adhesives
.