Hurricane Erin No Threat to U.S. Energy Sector

---

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Apart from the incessant heat, the U.S. was facing its next potential weather-related threat from Hurricane Erin, though energy markets were unfazed so far by the storm.

Erin, the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, had weakened to a Category 3 storm on Sunday, with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour (mph), after reaching Category 5 strength, with sustained winds of 160 mph on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane was located about 165 miles east of Grand Turk Island on Sunday, and was moving west-northwest at about 13 mph. The core of Erin was expected to pass to the east and northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas Sunday night and Monday.

As of Sunday, Erin was not expected to directly impact the U.S. East Coast. Erin was expected to grow in strength and size and remain a major hurricane through the middle of this week.

Another disturbance was moving north from the eastern coast of Mexico. While unlikely to develop into a hurricane, the system was expected to bring heavy rains to parts of southern Texas over the weekend.

Last year, Hurricane Beryl, one of two major storms to hit the U.S. mainland, left nearly 3 million people in Texas without power. Beryl was a rare Category 5 storm that formed in June and preceded what was dubbed a "hyperactive" hurricane season for 2024.

This year could be relatively calm. Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) lowered their Atlantic hurricane forecast in what's been something of an uneventful year so far. Researchers said the Gulf Coast, from the Florida Panhandle to Brownsville, Texas, has a 31% chance of getting hit this year. The historic average is 27%.

Colorado researchers said their forecast is "slightly above-normal" for this year, with 16 named storms expected.

Energy News
Energy markets on Friday were reacting more to the month-on-month spike in U.S. wholesale prices and the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin than weather-related events.

Henry Hub, the U.S. benchmark for the wholesale price of natural gas, was trading at around $2.90 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Friday and down about 3.5% on the week. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for the price of oil, was trading around $63 per barrel, down some 2% since Monday.

As of Friday, Erin looked unlikely to hit the U.S. mainland, sparing the energy sector. Instead, it's been largely accidents and unforeseen events that have bogged down the energy sector this year. The Freeport liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Texas has been experiencing problems with its power supply for much of the year, reporting an outage as recently as July. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project and Plant databases can view a detailed plant profile here.

More recently, Enterprise Products Partners LP (Houston, Texas) said Wednesday that oil was leaking from an oil terminal in the Houston area. Sources for the Reuters news agency said parts of its Enterprise Crude Houston terminal were briefly down as a result. Subscribers can view a detailed company profile of Enterprise, including its plants, here.

On Thursday, meanwhile, Phillips 66 (Houston, Texas) reported an equipment fire near a fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its Bayway Refinery in New Jersey, with a nameplate capacity of 258,500 barrels per day. IIR Energy subscribers can read that alert here.

Trade tensions are another matter. Sluggish global economic growth is expected to pull U.S. crude oil prices into the upper $40 per barrel range next year, well below the point at which many drillers can make a profit.

Meanwhile, it's hot. Much of the southern continental United States was under heat advisories on Friday, with parts of Louisiana boasting a heat index of 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The high heat continues into this week, though no other cyclonic activity is evident in the Atlantic or the Pacific. The Energy Department said August temperatures look to be on pace with the 10-year average. Subscribers can view a detailed weather outlook from IIR Energy here.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).