Energy companies in the US Gulf Coast have restored pipeline service and electricity as Hurricane Nicholas receded, allowing them to speed up efforts to repair the significant damage from a previous storm, Ida, in late August. Nicholas made landfall on Tuesday as a category 1 hurricane but weakened into a tropical depression later in that day. Meanwhile, the category 4 hurricane Ida was much stronger and left some refineries and offshore oil and gas platforms offline.
Colonial Pipeline restarted shipping of gasoline and diesel on Wednesday after Nicholas passed. Exxon expected to restart its HOOPS pipeline system later on Wednesday, the company said. HOOPS restart will also allow Shell to resume production at its Perdido offshore oil platform, idled ahead of Nicholas. Freeport LNG said its liquefaction trains were offline on Wednesday due to power outages in the area. However, industry sources said that the terminal had begun taking in more natural gas, indicating that it might return to service soon.
