Port Arthur, Texas, Refineries Shut Down in Face of Massive Flooding

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey has shut down refineries in Port Arthur, Texas, including the largest refinery in the U.S. Gasoline futures have spiked as a result in the drop in refining operations along the Gulf Coast, but the storm's impact also is being felt by other industrial sectors.

IIR Energy has organized a summary of the storm's current and potential impact on the power, chemical, petroleum refining and gas processing assets in its path. Click here to download the Hurricane Harvey Impact Report.

In all, 19 refineries with a combined capacity of more than 3.9 million barrels per day (BBL/d) were offline on Wednesday, representing 72% of the market region's capacity. According to news accounts, roughly a fifth of the nation's refining capacity has been knocked out by the storm.

Harvey made landfall on the Texas Coast this past weekend as a Category 4 hurricane. It has weakened into a tropical storm and drifted into Louisiana, but still was dumping rain on the region.

The storm caused massive flooding in Port Arthur and its refining complex. Motiva Enterprises LLC (Houston, Texas) shut down its 600,000-BBL/d Port Arthur facility, the largest refinery in the United States, but it wasn't alone. Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) (San Antonio, Texas) shut down its 343,000-BBL/d refinery in Port Arthur, and in nearby Beaumont, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) shut down the majority of its processing units at its 350,000-BBL/d refining due to weather-related issues.

Also in Port Arthur, BASF Total Petrochemicals has shut down its 2.37 billion-pound-per-year ethylene unit. More than 29 billion pounds of ethylene capacity has been shut down in the market region, representing more than 60% of total capacity in the area.

The storm has also taken a toll on power generation in the region. Flooding forced Calpine Corporation's (NYSE:CPN) (Houston, Texas) Brazos Valley Generating Station in Richmond, Texas, to go offline. The generating station has three generating units with a combined capacity of 612 megawatts. State authorities were concerned that flooding by the nearby Brazos River could cause more damage.

Despite the devastation, operators of the nearby W.A. Parish Power Station hoped to restore the facility to full operations after receiving a new train of coal. Operators had taken the 572-megawatt Unit 07 offline due to wet coal.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.