Oil refineries in the US Gulf Coast are preparing for winds and heavy rain from Tropical Storms Marco and Laura. Tropical Storm Marco made landfall at the coast of Louisiana on August 24 and is expected to bring up to 5 inches (12.7 cm) of rain along the region. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Laura is forecast to arrive at Texas and Louisiana coasts by Thursday as a damaging Category 2 hurricane. Both storms have forced energy companies to shut more than 1 million bpd of Gulf Coast offshore crude output.
As the storms move inland, Motiva Enterprises plan to shut down its 607,000-bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas on Tuesday. Valero Energy started a partial shutdown of its Port Arthur facility on Monday, while ExxonMobil is weighing plans for dealing with Storm Laura at its plant in Beaumont, Texas. Valero, Exxon, and Shell were planning to keep the operation as the first cyclone arrived on Monday.
Ports of New Orleans and Baton Rouge closed vessel traffic. Marine terminal operations were also halted at Louisiana Offshore Oil Port on Sunday.
