US chemical companies continue to assess plants after Francine; rail service returning to normal

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Chemical companies continue to assess the impact from Hurricane Francine on Thursday after the storm made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane on the Louisiana coast.

Ascension parish, home to Geismar and its many chemical plants, was among the regions hardest hit by Hurricane Francine, which has caused hundreds of thousands of power outages.

Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) have downgraded Francine to a post-tropical cyclone that is continuing to produce heavy rainfall across parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida panhandle, as shown in the following image.

Source: National Hurricane Center (NHC)

CHEMICAL OPERATIONS
Several chemical companies shut down their plants ahead of Francine’s landfall on Wednesday evening and are assessing damage on Thursday, while some are in the process of restarting.

Shell’s refinery and chemical sites in Louisiana do not appear to have serious damage from Hurricane Francine, the producer said “at this early stage” on Thursday.

Shell is conducting a thorough post-hurricane damage assessment at Geismar and Norco to ensure the integrity of its equipment, systems and processes.

Downstream issues have caused Shell to curtail oil and gas production at Appomattox, Mars, Vito, Ursa and Olympus following Hurricane Francine, it said Thursday morning. Shell did not specify the downstream issues.

Dow said its sites in Louisiana are safely resuming normal operations. It is unclear what steps it took in preparation for the storm and whether those steps had any effect on operations or production.

BASF is assessing the impacts from Hurricane Francine at facilities located in the path of the storm, the company told ICIS in an update on Thursday.

Louisiana is home to just above 25% of the total ethylene capacity in the US, according to the ICIS Supply and Demand Database.

It also has close to 50% of the country’s vinyls chain capacity – for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorine, ethylene dichloride (EDC), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and caustic soda.

Other significant exposures close to 50% of total US capacity include methanol, ethylbenzene (EB), styrene and low density polyethylene (LDPE).

UTILITIES
More than 262,000 customers in Louisiana were without power as of Thursday afternoon, according to the website poweroutage.us.

The total was higher than 350,000 earlier in the day.

There were more than 38,000 without power in Alabama, 13,000 in Mississippi and 11,000 in Tennessee.

Ascension and Assumption parishes as well as the coastal parts of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes appear to be among the hardest hit, said Entergy, a power company.

OIL AND GAS
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) suspended all marine operations on 11 September, according to its website.

An estimated 41.74% of current US oil production and 53.32% of US natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut in as of Thursday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

PORTS
The US Coast Guard has not yet activated Port Condition Recovery at the Port of New Orleans, but pilots are understood to be ready and able to start moving traffic once cleared.

Lake Charles is also currently closed awaiting the Coast Guard to survey the channel, which may happen early on Friday.

Operations at Pascagoula, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, have also been suspended due to adverse weather, according to GAC Hot Port News.

RAILROADS
Railroads are telling customers to expect delays as they assess damage from the storm.

BNSF issued an embargo impacting traffic between Beaumont, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, including Amelia, Texas.

The embargo affects interchanges at Amelia, Beaumont and New Orleans.

While the embargo is in effect, permits may not be issued until the storm’s impact has been assessed.

CSX is closely monitoring the remnants of Hurricane Francine as it moves north-northwest, potentially affecting the CSX network.

While no service areas are currently impacted, customers with shipments through the CSX Southeast and Southwest regions could experience potential delays.

Leading up to the storm, CSX implemented measures to protect its employees, customers and communities.

“Our team is working diligently to ensure minimal service disruptions while maintaining the highest safety standards,” CSX said.

Norfolk Southern is operating as scheduled and a market participant told ICIS the railroad said it will work with connecting carriers to utilize alternative gateways where possible.

The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad said on Thursday that it resumed operations at 14:00 local time (19:00 GMT) following damage assessments.

With the Port of New Orleans shut down, railroad companies warned customers of delays as traffic will be diverted following the port’s flood-gate closure.

Additional reporting by Tracy Dang, Al Greenwood, Stefan Baumgarten, Emily Burleson, Bryan Campbell and Melissa Wheeler

Track the latest updates on Hurricane Francine and its impact on chemicals on the Topic Page: Storm Season 2024.