Hurricane Sally was hovering above the US Gulf Coast as of Tuesday, forcing more than a quarter of offshore oil output in the US Gulf of Mexico to shut. The US National Hurricane Center on Tuesday said Sally weakened into a Category one hurricane. However, it still threatened an area from Mississippi to Florida with sustained 140-kph winds and heavy floodings.
According to the US Interior Department, almost 500,000 bpd of offshore crude oil production and 759 Mmcfd of natural gas output in the US Gulf of Mexico were offline on Tuesday. The shutdown contributed to a nearly 3% increase in US crude oil futures on Tuesday, while gasoline futures rose 2.3%.
On September 13, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port halted loading tankers. Meanwhile, ports from Biloxi in Mississippi to Pensacola in Florida were shut. Ports along the Mississippi River started resuming operations late Tuesday but applied some restrictions. According to tanker tracking data, the closure affected 411,000 bpd of refined products and 307,000 bpd of crude shipments.
Phillips 66 took its 255,600-bpd Alliance oil refinery on the coast of Louisiana offline. Shell’s 227,400-bpd Norco refinery, in Louisiana, maintained production on Monday but at a minimum rate. Shell also kept its chemical and refinery plant in Mobile, Alabama, operating with a skeleton crew.
