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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Winter Storm Uri's brutal effect on Texas has lightened up over the past day. "Grid conditions are improving, and rotating outages are ending," said the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in a tweet Friday morning, adding: "Conservation is still critical." Indeed, the power situation in Texas is having ripple effects across North America, with other states and players in the energy markets anxious over Governor Gregg Abbott's efforts to conserve natural gas and other resources.
Texas produces the most natural gas of any U.S. state. Its 23 billion-cubic-foot-per-day average amounts to about 25% of total production from the Lower 48 states.
Abbott took some heat for his decision late Wednesday to order natural gas producers not to export product out of state until February 21, and instead to sell it to providers within Texas. The U.S. Constitution's commerce clause bars state governments from interfering in interstate trade, but Abbott said his authority under the Texas Disaster Act gave him the right to impose such restrictions, since he had declared a disaster on February 12.
Mexico's President López Obrador said he was trying to reverse Abbot's measure to restrict gas exports, as Mexico also has experienced massive outages. The brutal weather froze natural gas pipelines between the two countries earlier this week, putting a massive dent in power generation across northern Mexico and leaving almost 5 million customers in Mexico without power, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nonetheless, Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission said it had restored power to all users via other sources, such as hydroelectric and coal.
Winter Storm Uri also is having a noticeable effect on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. According to Bloomberg, no LNG tankers were docked and loading at any of the six U.S. export terminals for the first time in six months. Eight LNG tankers remain anchored at sea waiting to dock at the Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi and Freeport terminals.
Earlier in the week, Abbott had asked LNG producers in Texas to restrain their activities, so more gas could be used to generate power within the state. The Freeport LNG export facility and Cheniere Energy Incorporated's (NYSE:LNG) (Houston) Corpus Christi LNG terminal have cut their natural gas consumption to almost zero in response, according to Bloomberg.
Cameron LNG is restarting production and loading at its terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana, after it lost power Monday and its gas supplies plummeted. Power since has been restored, although some cargoes will continue to face delays. For more information, see Industrial Info's plant profile: 3058656
Emergency conditions wind down, but other problems heat up
ERCOT, which operates about 90% of Texas' power grid, announced early Friday that "emergency conditions" would end within the day and that there had been no additional outages overnight, although a few generating units tripped. According to PowerOutage.us, an outage tracking website, the number of Texas customers without power dropped from more than 500,000 to less than 200,000 within 24 hours, as of early Friday.
But as the power situation began to clear up, other factors became more pronounced. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said late Thursday that about 13 million Texans--nearly half the state's population--were under a boil-water advisory, and that more than 700 water supply systems across the state had been impacted. The state's power lines were not the only things that were not adequately prepped for extreme weather: Frozen water pipes across the state were bursting and leaking, leading to hundreds of millions of gallons of water lost across Texas.
Some hospitals have been operating without water service, including Houston Methodist West and Houston Methodist Baytown, which have resorted to trucking in water for consumption and collecting rainwater for flushing toilets, according to CNN.
Here's a list of power, chemical, pipeline and refining facilities across Texas and southern Louisiana to have been shut down or otherwise affected by weather conditions in the past 24 hours:
Power Generation
Calpine Corporation's Guadalupe Generating Station in New Braunfels, Texas, is slowly returning to operational status following this week's weather conditions, although plant owners say they might idle some units due natural gas pricing. Plant profile: 1036099
Invenergy LLC's Ector County Energy Center in Ector County, Texas, has idled units due to the weather conditions. Plant profile: 3095164
Chemical Processing
ExxonMobil Chemical has suspended operations at its polyethylene plant in Beaumont, Texas. It could return to normal operations later in the week as temperatures rise. 1500561
LyondellBasell has suspended operations at its 2.5 billion-pound-per-year Olefins Ethylene Unit at its plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. It could return to normal operations later in the week as temperatures rise. 1000939
Petroleum Refining
Valero remains operational at its 175,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) McKee Refinery in Sunray, Texas. Plant profile: 1000910
ExxonMobil's 500,000-BBL/d refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, remains operational despite shutdowns at its Baytown and Beaumont refineries. Plant profile: 1004076
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.
Texas produces the most natural gas of any U.S. state. Its 23 billion-cubic-foot-per-day average amounts to about 25% of total production from the Lower 48 states.
Abbott took some heat for his decision late Wednesday to order natural gas producers not to export product out of state until February 21, and instead to sell it to providers within Texas. The U.S. Constitution's commerce clause bars state governments from interfering in interstate trade, but Abbott said his authority under the Texas Disaster Act gave him the right to impose such restrictions, since he had declared a disaster on February 12.
Mexico's President López Obrador said he was trying to reverse Abbot's measure to restrict gas exports, as Mexico also has experienced massive outages. The brutal weather froze natural gas pipelines between the two countries earlier this week, putting a massive dent in power generation across northern Mexico and leaving almost 5 million customers in Mexico without power, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nonetheless, Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission said it had restored power to all users via other sources, such as hydroelectric and coal.
Winter Storm Uri also is having a noticeable effect on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. According to Bloomberg, no LNG tankers were docked and loading at any of the six U.S. export terminals for the first time in six months. Eight LNG tankers remain anchored at sea waiting to dock at the Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi and Freeport terminals.
Earlier in the week, Abbott had asked LNG producers in Texas to restrain their activities, so more gas could be used to generate power within the state. The Freeport LNG export facility and Cheniere Energy Incorporated's (NYSE:LNG) (Houston) Corpus Christi LNG terminal have cut their natural gas consumption to almost zero in response, according to Bloomberg.
Cameron LNG is restarting production and loading at its terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana, after it lost power Monday and its gas supplies plummeted. Power since has been restored, although some cargoes will continue to face delays. For more information, see Industrial Info's plant profile: 3058656
Emergency conditions wind down, but other problems heat up
ERCOT, which operates about 90% of Texas' power grid, announced early Friday that "emergency conditions" would end within the day and that there had been no additional outages overnight, although a few generating units tripped. According to PowerOutage.us, an outage tracking website, the number of Texas customers without power dropped from more than 500,000 to less than 200,000 within 24 hours, as of early Friday.
But as the power situation began to clear up, other factors became more pronounced. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said late Thursday that about 13 million Texans--nearly half the state's population--were under a boil-water advisory, and that more than 700 water supply systems across the state had been impacted. The state's power lines were not the only things that were not adequately prepped for extreme weather: Frozen water pipes across the state were bursting and leaking, leading to hundreds of millions of gallons of water lost across Texas.
Some hospitals have been operating without water service, including Houston Methodist West and Houston Methodist Baytown, which have resorted to trucking in water for consumption and collecting rainwater for flushing toilets, according to CNN.
Here's a list of power, chemical, pipeline and refining facilities across Texas and southern Louisiana to have been shut down or otherwise affected by weather conditions in the past 24 hours:
Power Generation
Calpine Corporation's Guadalupe Generating Station in New Braunfels, Texas, is slowly returning to operational status following this week's weather conditions, although plant owners say they might idle some units due natural gas pricing. Plant profile: 1036099
Invenergy LLC's Ector County Energy Center in Ector County, Texas, has idled units due to the weather conditions. Plant profile: 3095164
Chemical Processing
ExxonMobil Chemical has suspended operations at its polyethylene plant in Beaumont, Texas. It could return to normal operations later in the week as temperatures rise. 1500561
LyondellBasell has suspended operations at its 2.5 billion-pound-per-year Olefins Ethylene Unit at its plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. It could return to normal operations later in the week as temperatures rise. 1000939
Petroleum Refining
Valero remains operational at its 175,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) McKee Refinery in Sunray, Texas. Plant profile: 1000910
ExxonMobil's 500,000-BBL/d refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, remains operational despite shutdowns at its Baytown and Beaumont refineries. Plant profile: 1004076
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.
