Update on condition of Oil/Gas Facilities from Various sites

[JohnGaltfla]

Gang, I'm going to use all of the sites that I refer to and try to make one thread summarizing them. I was going to take a break from heavy posting, but I have to agree with Steve ******. This is going to have far more impact than I originally thought and information is crucial. I'll share as much as I can, and we'll all go from there.

To those directly affected by this storm, you have my prayers.

Sites used for these updates:

www.oil.com
www.rigzone.com
www.theoildrum.com
www.bloomberg.com


and others I subscribe to via word of mouth and my numerous links and friends.

First some insight:

Eglin AFB here in Florida is rationing gas: $20 per vehicle limit

Insiders report:

A report from an anonymous insider
Posted by Prof. Goose in Supply/Production
Tue Aug 30 at 1:43 PM EST
A synopsis of oil company reports from an anonymous source I consider credible. All below the fold.

There's more... (380 words) | Comments (34) | Permalink
We still cannot get people into the affected areas, so most production is remaining shut-in. Several platforms were left running on timers which will or have expired, allowing them to shut-in. There is no available phone service or power in the coastal areas east of ICY. Most generator systems will need to be purged and the fuel checked for water before even emergency power can be started. Mobil phone service is very patchy at best, and the landlines into Lafayette are overworked - please keep your communications at a minimum until further notice. Phones are non-existent from the Atchafalaya Basin eastward.

We will continue to try and get fueling stations up and running to allow us to field helicopters, but right now everything must be flown out of ICY or westward, and the standard fuel depots are not running or no longer in existence. We are extremely limited in the areas we can survey until fuel depots and heliports are up and running again.

From a helo pilot:

I just heard from our flight, which we sent to Venice and Fourchon for a look. There is a single building standing in Venice. The fuel tank is nearby but floating, along with huge amounts of debris from everywhere. All the nearby docks, boats and barges appear destroyed. There is lots of water inside the levees and destruction everywhere you look.

Fourchon looks OK at first glance. The roads even APPEAR POSSIBLY passable. The airport at Golden Meadow looks OK but no-one was around and there was no electricity. I know for a fact they have generators so we may be able to get fuel there later in the day. If our base fuel tank survived and the fuel is not contaminated, we have extra generators and will be trying to get that fuel system going. If Fourchon survived the fuel system on platform X might have as well.

Flight following will be a big problem. I will probably launch a small helo to orbit near GM to relay flight plans. Just for information, the Sikorsky that was abandoned at our base just before the storm hit is floating upside down on our heliport.

MMS report for today finally out (conveniently after main energy markets close LOL). Compare to yesterdays -- shut in/off line %'s went UP.

http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2005/press0830.htm

Today's shut-in oil production is 1,427,969 BOPD. This shut-in oil production is equivalent to 95.20% of the daily oil production in the GOM, which is currently approximately 1.5 million BOPD.

Today's shut-in gas production is 8.798 BCFPD. This shut-in gas production is equivalent to 87.99% of the daily gas production in the GOM, which is currently approximately 10 BCFPD.

The cumulative shut-in oil production for the period 8/26/05-8/30/05 is 4,635,751 bbls, which is equivalent to 0.847% of the yearly production of oil in the GOM (approximately 547.5 million barrels).

The cumulative shut-in gas production for the period 8/26/05-8/30/05 is 25.441 BCF, which is equivalent to 0.697% of the yearly production of gas in the GOM (approximately 3.65 TCF).

More rig info:

Rowan can't locate its Rowan-New Orleans rig post-Katrina (RDC) By Carolyn Pritchard
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Rowan Cos. Inc. (RDC) said Tuesday that it's unable to locate its Rowan-New Orleans rig in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and fears it may have capsized and sunk offshore Louisiana. The rig was insured for $8.5 million and had a carrying value of $7.4 million, the company said. Rowan said its other rigs in the area appear to have sustained minimal damage but a complete evaluation of their condition will require a closer inspection from the company's drilling personnel.

From Stratfor and sources:

August 30, 2005 16 50 GMT

As floodwaters from Lake Pontchartrain poured into New Orleans Aug. 30 -- the result of two major breaches in the city's levee system a day after Hurricane Katrina narrowly missed a direct hit on the city -- serious concerns that Stratfor raised as Katrina barreled though the Gulf of Mexico have returned.

Among the most pressing concerns is the status of the Mississippi River. Although Katrina veered slightly just before making landfall, the storm did strike the river's mouth head on. With the water level low due to a drought in the Midwest, the lower reaches of the delta could no longer be navigable.

In effect, the rising waters will prevent New Orleans from serving as a base of operations for rescue/recovery/assessment operations, meaning focus must now be shifted to the situation south of the city -- areas that will be cut off from substantial assistance for a few days as the U.S. government stretches its resources to get to the tens of thousands of people still stranded in New Orleans.

Over the next few hours, Stratfor will assess the situation in southern Louisiana with an eye on addressing key questions -- the answers to which will determine the status of the entire import-export infrastructure of the middle section of the United States, as well as the status of the energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.

As of now, the key questions are:

1. As the U.S. grain harvest gets under way, where are the grain storage facilities in this area -- and what has become of them?

2. Has silt build-up on the Mississippi River affected its navigability -- and thus affected shipments? The U.S. Coast Guard reports that most efforts up to now are focusing on search and rescue, although it is attempting to move several ships that have run aground. Furthermore, some survey work has begun at mile marker 507 and below, where the Coast Guard has located several smaller sunken ships. The initial survey is expected to be completed within 24 hours.

3. What is the status of Grande Isle, the city on the Gulf that services the oil industry, and of Port Fourchon, the onshore transfer point for the oil off-loading facility known as the LOOP?

4. What is the status of the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of New Orleans?

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said earlier Aug. 30 that 80 percent of the city already is flooding. As the waters rise, so do the threats to the U.S. economy.

[JohnGaltfla]

Xinhua Financial News 8/30/2005
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=24832

Oil companies, with 90% of their Gulf of Mexico output still shuttered a day after Hurricane Katrina clobbered the region, scrambled Tuesday to size up just how hard the powerful storm hit offshore rigs and onshore refineries.

The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 25% of the nation's energy production, while refineries hit by the storm account for nearly 10% of the nation's refining capacity.

At least five big Gulf Coast refineries also remained shut, as was the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP -- the nation's only deepwater oil terminal.

The LOOP typically receives tankers delivering about 1 million barrels of crude oil a day, or 10% of the nation's imported crude.

The outages and uncertainty over how long they might last drove crude and gasoline futures to record highs Tuesday in New York.

Oil companies said poor communications and extensive power outages were hampering their efforts to assess the damage.

"Communications are very sparse," said Chevron Corp. spokesman Mickey Driver, speaking from the company's Houston office.

"Cell phones don't work; land lines don't work. We're using the communication that we have to ensure the safety of our workforce and employees."

Driver added that Chevron, the second-biggest U.S. oil company, was conducting aerial assessments of its facilities Tuesday, but that it would not have a full picture of storm damage to its operations until Wednesday.

Chevron evacuated 2,100 offshore workers from rigs and closed its 700-employee office in New Orleans ahead of the storm. The company also shut its 325,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Pascagoula, Miss. The plant, one of the biggest on the Gulf Coast, remained down Tuesday.

"We're doing a flyover today of that facility. We don't know whether we'll be able to have people on the ground there today," Driver said. He declined to discuss how much of the company's oil and gas production had been shut by the storm.

Shell Oil, the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. and one of the Gulf's biggest operators, said all of its Gulf of Mexico oil and gas output remained shuttered Tuesday in the wake of the storm.

A spokeswoman said the company had been pumping about 300,000 barrels of oil a day and 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas prior to the storm.

Ports remain shut

The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that all ports on the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge, La., to the Gulf of Mexico remain shut to ship traffic following Hurricane Katrina. Ports along the Intercoastal Waterway from New Orleans to Panama City, Fla., also were down a day after the storm ripped through.

"We're well aware of the need to assess the waterways and get them open. But it's impossible to give a timeline on when that might happen. Right now, search and rescue are our top priorities, and they're taking almost all of our resources," said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Rob Wyman.

The vast dock and storage facilities along the lower Mississippi handle more cargo by volume than any other port in the United States.

Other key ports along the Gulf Coast still shut by the storm include Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula, Miss., among the hardest-hit by the storm.

Meanwhile, offshore-drilling contractors reported several semisubmersible rigs broke their moorings during the storm and were adrift in the Gulf, adding to flotsam of navigational hazards clogging the sea lanes off Louisiana and Mississippi.

Among rigs adrift were the Deepwater Nautilus, belonging to Transocean Inc. and Offshore Drilling Inc.'s Ocean Voyager.

Offshore Drilling also said its aircraft so far had not found one of its jack-up rigs, the Ocean Warwick. Jack-up rigs, unlike semisubmersibles, rest on legs extended to the seabed when drilling a well.

None of the missing rigs is a production facility.

[Hiding Bear]

8/30/05 AP DataStream 15:31:12

AP DataStream
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

August 30, 2005

Energy prices surge to new highs in wake of Gulf Coast refinery, pipeline

Some signs of the havoc Katrina caused:

_ Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. reported one missing rig. Another broke free from its moorings, but it was found about nine miles north of its original location.

_ Newfield Exploration Co. said one of its production platforms disappeared entirely.

_ Rowan Cos. said it believes a rig capsized and sunk off the coast of Louisiana.

_ An oil drilling platform washed up onto Dauphin Island, a weekend retreat off the Alabama coast, but it was not known where the platform came from.

Valero Energy Corp. said its St. Charles refinery in Norco, La., which has capacity of 260,000 barrels a day, might not be restarted for another two weeks, but other big refiners in the region have yet to report the impact on their own facilities.

"The refiners that are in proximity to both the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain are the ones that probably have flood damage," said William Veno, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

In addition to refineries and oil platforms, critical infrastructure that remained out of service included:

_ the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest oil import terminal in the United States.

_ the Colonial Pipeline, which transports refined products such as gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel from Houston to markets as far away as the Northeast.

_ the Plantation Pipe Line, which transports fuel from refineries in Mississippi and Louisiana to consuming markets as far away as northern Virginia.

_ the Capline pipeline system, which transports crude oil from the Gulf to the Midwest.

Many energy companies struggled just to visit their facilities.

Such is the case for Chevron Corp., which shut down its 325,000 barrel a day Pascagoula, Miss., refinery before Katrina's arrival. "We are hoping to get in there today, but that's the issue _ getting there," said company spokesman Michael Barrett.

BP PLC spokesman Scott Dean said the company managed to conduct aerial overflights of several deepwater oil and gas platforms and that the damage appeared to be minimal. The company also brought a few workers back to their offshore rigs to get a closer look. "I still can't speculate on when we'll resume production," he said.

But even if offshore platforms and rigs are ready to resume production, many may have to wait until onshore pipelines, refineries and processors are ready to take delivery of the oil and gas, industry officials said.

An Energy Department spokesman said there have been requests from two companies seeking loans of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. No decision has been made yet about whether to lend the oil, spokesman Craig Stevens said.

At least eight Gulf Coast refineries in the path of Hurricane Katrina have shut down or reduced operations, taking out anywhere from 8 percent to 10 percent of the nation's production capacity, according to company and federal reports.

Sorry no link.

[JohnGaltfla]

Thanks H.B. for adding to the thread.

The thing that many people are not figuring out yet is the bigger disaster about to happen.

The Mississippi River is impassable to barge traffic. That means nothing will go north that is imported in (oil, coffee, sugar) and nothing exported out (grains, steel, etc.).

Nothing will move until all the channels are cleared and the levys stabilized.

Oilstorm.

Game over.

[Gayla]

I hope it's OK if I add a little more optimistic report.

Oil companies on Tuesday rushed teams to the Gulf of Mexico to assess the damage the hurricane may have caused to their rigs, platforms and refineries.

Royal Dutch Shell said an aerial inspection of its Mars platform showed some damage to its upper deck.

BP said initial indications showed that the hurricane caused little damage to its operations, including its massive $1 billion Thunder Horse platform.

Kerr McGee (up $1.67 to $87.16, Research) resumed oil and natural gas production in the western gulf after its facilities survived the brunt of the storm, a company official said.

Apache (up $0.97 to $70.70, Research) said it hoped to resume operations at some platforms by the end of the day if pipelines were not damaged.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port said initial damage reports were encouraging and hoped to begin crude shipments on Thursday.

Marathon Oil (up $1.87 to $61.96, Research) said early assessments showed no damage to some offshore operations and the 245,000 bpd Garyville, La., refinery.

OPEC's biggest crude oil producer, Saudi Arabia, pledged an extra 1.5 million bpd of oil to the market if needed, while the United States announced it would dip into its strategic reserves if necessary.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/30/mark...reut/index.htm

[Renegade]

Eglin AFB here in Florida is rationing gas: $20 per vehicle limit

Anyone that knows how the gov and the mil works knows that is a VERY telling statement.

[bluemoon]

Renegade, that tells me a lot. It is not good news.

Bluemoon

[BV141]

Thank you John!

good thread!

hope to see more data.

bv

[wrs]

Your gratuitous post has already been put on three different threads and it has been debunked, in my opinion, your insistence on posting that report is spamming, I hope the mods agree.

[Gayla]

wrs, it's not my fault there are so many threads about this.

An article is spam? Or you just don't like the positive part of it?

I am about the silt situation. That is the next 'biggie' in my opinion.

[wrs]

It was posted on another thread and talked about, it has no specifics regarding volumes or anything else. It doesn't say if the production of these companies is 10 barrels per day or 10,000 barrels per day and these other threads have lots of information that is specific and contrary to this article you continue to post. The spamming part of what you are doing is reposting this article in multiple places, I got in trouble for doing this, just warning you............

don't bother to worry about silt, New Orleans as a center of commerce is dead and not likely to be revived. You should start thinking about the impications of that.

[HeliumAvid]

*******ADMIN

I was gonna say this in PM but I want all to know. I am speaking as an Admin not a mod. I do not see gayla posting the same post on several threads as spaming durring a crisis situation. Threads come and go in a crisis and important data gets flushed on some useless thread. WRS, You may have the time to puruse all threads, but this is the first I saw of what Gayla had to post, It helped me put the problem in perspective.

WRS, I see your post as serious thread jacking. So untill you get to be a mod.... um. BACK OFF.. This is a public warning.

Please get back to the serious assesment of the threat in front of us. This is NOT a drill.

HeliumAvid
Administrator/TB2K

[JohnGaltfla]

Originally Posted by Renegade

Anyone that knows how the gov and the mil works knows that is a VERY telling statement.

It told me alot also. My friends at McDill haven't gotten home yet, I'll see what they are hearing soon and relay it as soon as I can.

[Renegade]

John,
I would also be curious to know if any tankers have arrived on base since Friday or so....ya know??

[north runner]

Which thursday in 2008 is the Loop going to resume operations? They actually expect people to believe the full power of a category 5 hurricane hit their facility and its basically ok.

Well sure - pigs can fly. I need a little more than the skimpy evidence I've seen so far to believe its not a twisted mass of wreckage ready for the scrapheap.

[Hiding Bear]

Chevron Starts Gasoline Allocation to Eastern US

Due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina our marketing organization is implementing volume controls at all of its supply terminals in the Eastern U.S. for motor gasoline and diesel until further notice. This will ensure that all our customers have continued access to ratable volumes.

http://rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=24810

Sorry if this has been posted, it is quite impossible to read all the posts!

[Renegade]

And so it begins....

[JohnGaltfla]

Originally Posted by Renegade

John,
I would also be curious to know if any tankers have arrived on base since Friday or so....ya know??

Trying to find out. Apparently Elgin and Kessler are in a bad way and alot of assets were diverted all over. The hurricane hunters were flying out of Abilene of all places! (that's a hike)

My friends haven't called me, so I have the feeling that within 36-48 hours we will hear about a massive domestic deployment. Not a fact, just a gut feeling.

[CountryboyinGA]

Originally Posted by Renegade

And so it begins....

Yep.


CB

[JohnGaltfla]

Originally Posted by Renegade

And so it begins....

FYI:

Oil at $70.42 as I post this. It would not climb unless the speculators and traders knew it's far worst than the MSM is being allowed to report.

I used to dismiss the idea, but now I won't. Rationing is not out of the question.

[Jazzdad]

Natural gas is up another $0.60 to $12.26 in the Access market. I think there is some concern about pipelines.

[Hiding Bear]

The price of gasoline in the futures market is now an unstopable, runaway frieght train that will only be halted by outright controls by the futures industry, refining/delivery industry or government.

It is not impossible that we can see a 'force majeure' (suspension of required delivery) on the futures contract - or some type of emergency government intervention.

Local gasoline shortages will soon explode into statewide, and then regional shortages within the US. There will be a lot of unhappy Americans, as they are wacked on the side of the head by the energy price shock.

[Ruckmanite]

Kind of off topic but...

We WERE planning a 500 mile round trip with the camper for Labor Day week. The prospect of getting 250 miles from home and possibly not being able to get fuel on the return date of 9/11 doesn't exactly make for a relaxing stay on Lake Michigan.

My DW, dissapointed and kind of testy, is watching the news and now figuring out for herself that this vacation is not a good idea.

Estimated net fuel usage: 40 gallons and $120-$160.00.

New vacation: Stay at home, cut more firewood, begin winterizing the house, cut more firewood, clean the chimney, cut more firewood.

It'll save me money in the long run. How many people are going to drive all over this weekend for one last big road trip and get caught in a massive jam up at the pumps come Monday afternoon?

Already in Indianapolis there are 17 Crystal Flash stations without gas except for fire trucks and EMS vehicles.

I am wondering if any of you had plans for the weekend involving long travel and have changed them completely.

[abbershay]

here is an unpopular solution , let the gas stations charge more say 3.50 per gallon, this will cause people to use less and thus thwart runs on the gas bank.

actually hugh gas prices are really good in the long term for americans. because they will simply not stand for it. they will put their thinking caps on and due away with oil as we know it.

there is no reason to pay as much as we are already, laziness really.

You can make diesel for about 50 to 75 cents a gallong right now.

[dharma]

Originally Posted by abbershay

here is an unpopular solution , let the gas stations charge more say 3.50 per gallon, this will cause people to use less and thus thwart runs on the gas bank.

Thereby invoking a clever, little-known economic principle called "supply and demand". As price rises, demand falls, until it's equivalent to supply! Amazing!

"Let" them charge more than $3.50/gallon? It's their gas! They can charge whatever they want!

Socialism has ruined this country . . . grumble, grumble . . . silly Americans . . .

[dharma]

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--On Tuesday, the following companies reported interruptions or operational updates as a result of Hurricane Katrina, which tore through Louisiana Monday with winds topping 135 miles per hour, before continuing into Mississippi and Alabama.

Tuesday's reports follow several company disclosures on Monday of rig shut-ins, store closures, damaged operations and other storm-related occurrences.

Stone Energy Corp. (SGY) said all offshore drilling and production activities in the Gulf of Mexico were suspended as of Aug. 28 and net daily production of about 240 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent was shut in as a result of the hurricane. The company hasn't determined the extent of damage at this point, but said its western Gulf fields might be brought online within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Spinnaker Exploration Co. (SKE) said all of the facilities it owns an interest in are intact. Several shallow water platforms are scheduled for inspection Tuesday. The company also expects only a minor impact on production for related downstream pipeline assets not owned by Spinnaker. All of Spinnaker's Western Gulf of Mexico and Central Gulf of Mexico production assets west of the Cameron additions are now producing or are scheduled to recommence production by the end of the day. Spinnaker currently operates or is participating in a total of six rig operations. Four of those operations were manned and active as of this morning. No damage was incurred.

Dixie Group Inc. (DXYN) said its order entry, shipping and delivery operations of its carpet distribution facilities in Saraland, Ala., are temporarily disrupted. However, Dixie said its Saraland plant in Atmore, Ala., is capable of producing full operations and has sustained minor damage. The company hasn't estimated the impact of the damage at this time.

Newfield Exploration Co. (NFX) said its "A" production platform at Main Pass 138 south of New Orleans was lost, but other Newfield-operated structures in the eastern Gulf of Mexico appear to be intact, company flyovers showed. Its main pass platform had an output of 1,500 barrels of oil per day. Newfield began shutting in production on Friday ahead of Katrina, with the equivalent of 1.1 billion cubic feet a day shut in, according to a previous Dow Jones report.

Parkway Properties Inc.'s (PKY) Jackson, Miss., office buildings are in good shape, but were closed due to low water pressure in the city and some power outages. The company said the hurricane is causing little, of any, damage to its buildings in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) said its jack-up drilling rig, Ocean Warwick, couldn't be found at its drilling location, which was about 12 miles of the coast of Louisiana prior to the hurricane. Diamond Offshore's semisubmersible Ocean Voyager rig broke free from its moorings in the aftermath of the hurricane and was found about nine miles north of its pre-storm location.

Martin Midstream Partners LP (MMLP) expects no significant impact on its operations due to the hurricane, but said its Venice, La., terminal was damaged. The terminal accounts for 1% of the company's operating income and isn't considered material to the company's financial peformance. All of the company's marine vessels are currently operating as normal. Martin Midstream doesn't expect a disruption to its sulfur supply.

The Coast Guard said seven rigs are currently adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, which includes two it reported Monday. Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) had contracted from other companies the two rigs that drifted off during the hurricane. One rig was Noble Corp.'s (NE) Jim Thompson, while the other was Transocean Inc.'s (RIG) Deepwater Nautilus.

Noble Jim Thompson semisubmersible rig working offshore Louisiana at Mississippi Canyon Block 935 broke away from its mooring lines and has moved about 17 miles northeast from its original location. Based on airplane flyover observations, Noble said the unit doesn't appear to have sustained material damage.

A Royal Dutch Shell PLC spokeswoman told Dow Jones Newswires that the company's Capline pipeline will remain shut Tuesday as Royal Dutch evaluates Hurricane Katrina damages. The Capline System, which links Gulf of Mexico and foreign crude supplies to the midcontinental area of the U.S., was shut down Sunday ahead of the storm.

Ensco International Inc. (ESV), the Dallas contract drilling and marine transportation services company, said its ENSCO 7500 rig was found undamaged after it was lost prior to Hurricane Katrina. Ensco explained that a towline broke while the rig was being towed from the path of the storm. The company added an initial inspection didn't find any damage to the rig.

Valero Energy Corp. (VLO), the San Antonio refinery operator, expects to take about two weeks to get its St. Charles refinery near New Orleans running after shutting down ahead of Hurricane Katrina. Jonathan Stuart, vice president of refinery operations, told CNBC the St. Charles refinery, which produces about 250,00 barrels a day, was shut down due to a lack of power in the region.

Yellow Roadway Corp. (YELL) Chief Executive William Zollars told CNBC Tuesday that damage caused by Katrina would cause a short-term "speed bump" for the U.S. economy but said he is seeing "pretty good demand" for the company's trucking transportation service.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) said it has closed 123 of its stores because of Hurricane Katrina, noting most of the stores are in Louisiana and Mississippi, and have no power. Wal-Mart, which has 3,725 stores, is based in Bentonville, Ark.

New Orleans-based energy company Entergy Corp. (ETR) said it plans to start assessing damage early Tuesday from the hurricane, which it said caused nearly 1.1 million customers in its Louisiana and Mississippi territory to lose power.

El Paso Corp. (EP), the Houston energy company, said it sent helicopter crews to assess damage by Hurricane Katrina on its three major pipelines that pull gas production from the Gulf of Mexico. The company expects the helicopter crews to assess damages and report what they've found Tuesday afternoon. El Paso's three pipelines -- ANR Pipeline, Southern Natural Gas and Tennessee Gas Pipe Line -- have reported a total of 3 billion cubic feet of gas shut in by Gulf of Mexico producers.

Lloyd's Of London (LYL.YY) said it expects to "receive significant insurance claims as a result of Hurricane Katrina, predominantly in relation to offshore energy installations in the Gulf, property damage and business interruption."

Kerr-McGee Corp. (KMG), the Oklahoma City energy and inorganic chemical company, said it found no damage to its offshore oil and gas production facilities from Hurricane Katrina, and has returned workers and restarted output.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that a crude supply shortage at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s (XOM) Baton Rouge, La., refinery is expected to last for a couple of weeks, according to a source familiar with the plant's operations. The plant is the second-largest refinery in the nation, with the crude throughput capacity to process 493,500 barrels a day.

On Tuesday, Williams Cos. (WMB) said about 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day is being shut in by producers in the Gulf of Mexico due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on its Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line. On Monday, the company reported that as much as 1.8 bcf/d seen shut in on the pipeline.

Houston oil and gas exploration company Apache Corp. (APA) said it is has begun assessing damage to its production platforms in the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico affected by the hurricane. On Monday, the company said 336 of its 386 structures in the Gulf of Mexico were shut in by the storm.

[Fisher]

Damage to Economy Is Deep and Wide

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/business/31econ.html


This oil platform ripped from its mooring in the Gulf of Mexico came ashore at Dauphin Island, Ala. Peter Cosgrove/Associated Press

By EDUARDO PORTER
Published: August 31, 2005

As Hurricane Katrina plowed through the Mississippi River basin, shutting down ports, flooding cities and cutting power lines, economists warned that it was likely to leave a deeper mark on the national economy than previous hurricanes because of its profound disruption to the Gulf of Mexico's complex energy supply network.

"The typical pattern with a natural disaster like this is that the regional economy gets clobbered but you can barely see it in the national statistics," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. "This time it is very different because of the impact on the energy infrastructure."

Already, it is clear that much of the economic activity in the gulf region has indeed been clobbered. New Orleans, home to nearly a million people, is under water. By yesterday morning an estimated 2.7 million residents in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi had reported power failures, with many expected to be without electricity for weeks. Conventional and mobile telephone service along the Gulf Coast suffered from severe disruptions from flooded call-routing equipment and damaged cellular towers.

Businesses across the Southern interior ground to a halt as then storm affected the region's transportation network and power grid. Since last Thursday, AirTran, a low-fare airline, has canceled 195 flights because of Katrina, including 18 cancellations yesterday.

Casinos were destroyed in Mississippi and New Orleans; tourism is not expected to revive for months. Grain shipments face serious delay: Bunge, the world's largest oil-seed processor, evacuated a huge soybean operation in Destrehan, La., its main export terminal in the United States. Food exports and imports that normally flow in huge quantities through regional ports, roads and rail lines are likely to face major disruptions for weeks, if not longer.

Economic activity is expected to resume in the next few days and weeks in all but the worst-hit locations. But what worries most economists is Katrina's ripple effect on energy prices.

A spike in the price of gasoline just ahead of Labor Day will force consumers to dig deeper into their wallets on one of the busiest driving weekends of the year, providing both a real and psychological blow to spending on other goods and services. And a sustained rise in the cost of energy could substantially slow economic growth.

Article continues here.....

[JohnGaltfla]

US to tap Petroleum Reserve-Energy Secy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The White House has approved the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset production cuts caused by Hurricane Katrina, Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman said on Wednesday.

"Last evening it was approved," Bodman said in an interview on CNBC. "I think you'll be seeing an announcement about that later today." The price of oil immediately began to fall as the news of the SPR release came out.

[Renegade]

actually hugh gas prices are really good in the long term for americans. because they will simply not stand for it. they will put their thinking caps on and due away with oil as we know it.

I understand where you are coming from, but between now and when the oil is done away with life will be hell for a lot of people. Worse than that for the poor and fixed income folks.

[north runner]

A shortage of oil, a shortage of natural gas. The question I have is how will it affect the grid. Is the northeast going to have rolling blackouts or will the industrial users of natural gas be shut off until the problem in the gulf of mexico is resolved?

[JohnGaltfla]

Originally Posted by north runner

A shortage of oil, a shortage of natural gas. The question I have is how will it affect the grid. Is the northeast going to have rolling blackouts or will the industrial users of natural gas be shut off until the problem in the gulf of mexico is resolved?

Good question. Releasing the SPR according to CNBC is somewhat useless. There's no electricity to run the refineries in MS and LA for at least 2 to 3 weeks!

[gillmanNSF]

Originally Posted by Ruckmanite

Kind of off topic but...

We WERE planning a 500 mile round trip with the camper for Labor Day week. The prospect of getting 250 miles from home and possibly not being able to get fuel on the return date of 9/11 doesn't exactly make for a relaxing stay on Lake Michigan.

My DW, dissapointed and kind of testy, is watching the news and now figuring out for herself that this vacation is not a good idea.

Estimated net fuel usage: 40 gallons and $120-$160.00.

New vacation: Stay at home, cut more firewood, begin winterizing the house, cut more firewood, clean the chimney, cut more firewood.

It'll save me money in the long run. How many people are going to drive all over this weekend for one last big road trip and get caught in a massive jam up at the pumps come Monday afternoon?

Already in Indianapolis there are 17 Crystal Flash stations without gas except for fire trucks and EMS vehicles.

I am wondering if any of you had plans for the weekend involving long travel and have changed them completely.

OK, I've been hold off doing the math for the cost of fuel for my road trip to South Dakota, which, if anybody has heard, is probably sick of hearing about. The roundtrip mileage is around 3000 mi. as we will be meandering on the way there and back. So, the Saturn Vue we'll be driving gets 25 mpg highway, that means we'll need about 120 gallons of regular unleaded for the trip. If prices go up to $3.50 per gallon, that's only $420. Still cheaper than airfare and car rental. Even if prices go up to $5 a gallon, we would still go. My only concern has been availability due to rationing. If they're tapping into the NPR, then it sounds like we're good, for a little while anyway.