» Oil and gas companies jump into action ahead of the storm.
Evacuations, emergency measures underway as tropical storm barrels toward Gulf Coast
Oil and gas companies are bracing for what could be a major hurricane as the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico late Monday, threatening the nation’s largest concentration of refineries, petrochemical plants and offshore platforms.
Tropical Storm Laura is barreling toward Louisiana and Texas after dropping heavy rain and causing flash floods in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The storm is expected to strengthen in the open, warm waters of the Gulf, likely becoming a Category 2 or 3 hurricane by the time it comes ashore near Lake Charles, La., this week. If Laura becomes a Category 3, it would be the first major Atlantic hurricane of 2020.
“(Hurricanes are) always a significant concern every season,” said Suzanne Lemieux, the manager of emergency response policy with the trade group American Petroleum Institute. “We see increased risk this year.”
Indeed, Laura is the second storm to chart a path for Louisiana this week. A weaker Tropical
Storm Marco landed along the mouth of the Mississippi River on Monday afternoon.
Laura is forcing companies to temporarily halt about 82 percent of the oil production and 57 percent of the natural gas production in the Gulf, according to an Interior Department bureau that oversees offshore oil and gas production.
Workers have been evacuated from 281 production platforms, nearly half of the 643 Gulf of Mexico platforms. Of the 26 drilling rigs in the gulf, 17 have been evacuated or moved from the storm’s track, the department said Monday. Tens of thousands of offshore workers are employed in the Gulf.
BP began evacuating all personnel from its platforms Friday and moved four mobile drilling rigs out of the storm’s track. The British oil supermajor also evacuated its operations learning center southwest of New Orleans.
Chevron has evacuated all per
sonnel from platforms and has halted production. The California-based oil supermajor also secured two Mississippi River delta terminals and closed nearby pipeline systems.
Exxon Mobil evacuated personnel from its Hoover platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Irving-based oil supermajor is operating its refinery units normally.
Shell has halted production at all but one of its nine operating platforms in the Gulf and has evacuated nonessential personnel. Shell said it is monitoring Laura’s track to determine if it needs to temporarily shut down its ninth production platform, Perdido.
The coronavirus pandemic and the market downturn pose additional challenges to oil and gas companies responding to the tropical threat. During Tropical Depression Cristobal in June, several oil companies required offshore workers to wear face masks aboard helicopter flights and to isolate themselves at home. BP and Shell employees will be screened for COVID-19 before returning to work offshore.
API’s Lemieux said she was not aware of any coronavirus outbreaks that stemmed from the Cristobal evacuations, and that the financial pressures facing oil and gas companies won’t deter them from responding to the hurricanes properly.
“As essential workers, our members have been working throughout the pandemic, so they feel they’re ready,” Lemieux said. “Social distancing and mask wearing is an added response. In terms of market conditions, we don’t see that as an issue. Our members are going to do what they have to do to keep things running. The emergency response has not changed.”
Most at risk
Gulf Coast refineries, which processes about half of the nation’s fuel and natural gas, and chemical plants are particularly susceptible to hurricanes’ devastating effects.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 51 inches of rain in the Houston area, flooding the city’s petrochemical corridor and releasing dozens of known carcinogens, including benzene, vinyl chloride and butadiene, into local neighborhoods. In one case, an Arkema chemical plant in Crosby exploded after the plant’s backup generators flooded and lost power, releasing hazardous gases from organic peroxides into the surrounding area.
Last September, Exxon temporarily shut down its Beaumont refinery because of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Imelda.
Meteorologists don’t expect Laura to stall over Houston like Harvey did, but they warn that the storm could bring high winds and storm surges that could affect coastal refineries.
Houston refiner and chemical maker Phillips 66 said it is monitoring the progress of Laura but doesn’t expect it to affect its refineries or operations. The company has three refineries along the coast — in Westlake, La., Belle Chasse, La., and Sweeny.
Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan suspended activities at two terminals along the Louisiana coast. Energy Transfer shut down a pipeline that hauls gas from offshore fields to Louisiana.
Protecting power grid
CenterPoint Energy, the regulated utility that supplies power to most of the Houston area, has been monitoring forecasts and said Houston-area customers should prepare to be without power for at least two weeks with enough supplies on hand and an emergency plan in place, especially if they depend on electricity for life-sustaining equipment.
If electric service is affected, CenterPoint said its crews are ready to restore the power while also preventing the spread of coronavirus, the company said.
After past storms, CenterPoint has studied what methods worked best to restore power. During Hurricane Harvey, the utility used the smart grid to quickly isolate problems on the grid and restore service to customers. CenterPoint would also use drones to assess damage and evaluate working conditions.
Enchanted Rock, the Houston-based company that provides on-site natural gas-powered generators, said many of its customers have opted to get off the power grid and are getting all their power from backyard generators.
In the meantime, the operations team has been making extra inspections near the coast to ensure power continues to run smoothly, Enchanted Rock president Corey Amthor said.
The company has accelerated planned maintenance, replenished all critical spare inventory as well as other supplies that may be needed after the storms, Amthor said. The systems are monitored and managed remotely from its microgrid network operations center.