Following the Hurricane Sally in the U.S. Gulf Coast, energy majors along with ports and refiners had no choice but to shut down.
According to Reuters, Hurricane Sally is the second significant hurricane to shutter oil and gas activity over the last month.
What is more, US authorities reported that 21% of offshore crude oil production and 25% of natural gas output was shut in the U.S.-regulated northern Gulf of Mexico.
In fact, the hurricane is disrupting oil imports and exports as the nation’s sole offshore terminal, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, stopped loading tanker ships on Sunday, while the port of New Orleans closed on Monday.
In light of the situation, several offshore production facilities were shut down, inluding those operated by Chevron Corp and BP Plc.
Refiners in the region are ceasing their operations. Namely, the Phillips 66 Alliance oil refinery, which processes 255,000 bpd at a site along the Mississippi River on the coast of Louisiana, shut on Monday, as Reuters further reported.
For the records, Chevron, BP, Equinor and Murphy Oil all evacuated some offshore workers from production platforms. Royal Dutch Shell Plc curtailed production at its Olympus, Mars and Appomattox platforms on Monday, the company said.