Operations at Some Texas Refineries, Ports Disrupted as Beryl Makes Landfall -- OPIS

At least one Texas refinery was forced to cut its production rate and several major oil and gas shipping ports in Texas were closed as of early Monday, as Beryl brought hurricane-force winds and flooding rain on the U.S. Gulf Coast near the home to key chemical and oil refineries.

At 4:54 a.m. ET, Beryl made landfall near Matagorda, Texas - located roughly equidistant between Corpus Christi and Houston -- as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Life-threatening storm surge and strong wind considerable flash and urban flooding are expected, NHC said.

A CITGO representative told OPIS in a Sunday email statement that its 175,000 b/d Corpus Christi refinery has reduced rates as part of the preparation for Beryl.

In addition to the CITGO plant, Corpus Christi is the home of two other large U.S. coastal oil refineries, namely the 350,000 b/d Flint Hill and 301,000 b/d Valero refineries. OPIS could not reach representatives of Flint Hill and Valero for comment.

Exxon Mobil said in an operational update that its Gulf Coast facilities were operating as normal as of Saturday, and on Friday it started its hurricane preparedness process for its chemical and refinery complexes at its 588,000 b/d Baytown, 634,400 b/d Beaumont and 544,600 b/d Baton Rouge refineries. The U.S. oil major also operates a chemical complex joint venture with SABIC in Corpus Christi.

OPIS also reported Formosa Plastics was shutting down all production units at Point Comfort, Texas on Sunday ahead of Beryl.

In addition, the port of Corpus Christi, one of the largest U.S. crude oil and natural gas export hubs, closed operations and vessel traffic over the weekend in preparation of Beryl. The ports of Houston, Galveston, Freeport and Texas City were also shut as of Sunday afternoon.

Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron said they evacuated personnel and shut in several offshore oil platforms on the Gulf of Mexico late last week, while most others were located away from Beryl's path and continued to operate.

Oil analysts do not expect Beryl to cause significant interruptions in fuel supply and cause the price on the gas pump to spike. However, potential heavy rain and severe flooding in major cities like Houston could have a larger impact on crimping fuel consumption even though most motorists rushed to fill up their tanks ahead of a storm.

According to poweroutage.us, customers in Texas were without power as of 8:30 a.m. CT, with almost a third of those in Galveston County which is home of the 665,000 b/d Marathon Petroleum's Galveston Bay refinery. OPIS could not reach a Marathon representative for comment.

Early Monday, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude oil, RBOB and ULSD futures are trading lower across the board, as news of the Gaza war peace talks offset potential supply worries related to Beryl.

The NHC said in its 8 a.m. update that Beryl is expected to turn toward the northeast with an increase in forward speed over the next several days. On its current forecast track, the center of Beryl will move over eastern Texas Tuesday, then move through the Lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, it said.

Most weather forecasters expect Beryl to weaken quickly as it continues to move inland. Beryl last week had strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane before it moved a destructive path across the Caribbean and Yucatan Peninsula.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Frank Tang, [e-mail]; Editing by Denton Cinquegrana, [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-08-24 0927ET