Houston, Freeport ports remain close as millions lack power after Beryl

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The ports of Houston and Freeport in Texas remain mostly closed on Tuesday while millions remain without power following Hurricane Beryl’s landfall at the start of the week.

Port Houston said all of its terminals will remain closed on Tuesday.

Port Freeport said the Freeport Harbor Channel is closed. Gates 4 and 14 are closed, while Gate 8 is opened.

Freeport LNG Development had shut down its LNG operations at Freeport on July 7. It can export 15 million tonnes/year.

Loadings for LNG tankers slowed considerably on 8 July due to rough seas and suspension of pilot services at Calcasieu Pass and Sabine Pass. Both are in Louisiana.

The port of Corpus Christi is scheduled to reopen on Tuesday. It is the third largest oil-exporting port in the world, and it is home to Corpus Christi Liquefaction, a terminal that can export 15 million tonnes/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

MILLIONS REMAIN WITHOUT POWER
Beryl made landfall on Sunday in Matagorda, Texas, as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained windspeeds of 80 miles/hour (130 km/hour).

So far, much of its effect on chemical operations has been by interrupting power.

On late Tuesday morning, Texas reported more than 2.82 million outages, according to the website poweroutage.us, which keeps track of power outages in the US.

CenterPoint Energy, the main electrical transmission and distribution company in Houston, said more than 1.76 million customers remain affected by outages.

Entergy, the main one for eastern Texas, said on Monday evening that 247,000 customers remained without power.

Texas-New Mexico Power, which handles the areas around Freeport and Galveston said it 73,220 customers are affected by outages.

BERYL CAUSED SOME CHEM SHUTDOWNS
Electrical outages and precautions had caused some chemical companies and refiners to shut down units.

• Enterprise Products said bad weather caused a trip to a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Mont Belvieu, Texas.
• Marathon Petroleum reported power loss and multiple unit shutdowns at its Galveston Bay refinery.
• Dow shut down its operations in Seadrift, Texas, as a precaution.
• In Baytown, ExxonMobil said it is continuing to assess the site for possible damage as it resumes normal operations. The company anticipated minimal impact to production.
• Formosa Plastics shut down its Olefins 1 unit at Port Comfort, Texas.
• Interoceanic Corporation (IOC) said its affiliate, PCI Nitrogen, has halted ammonium sulphate (AS) and sulphuric acid production at its facility in Pasadena, Texas.
• Phillips 66 reported an upset at its refinery in Sweeney, Texas. The refiner did not say if it shut down any unit. Personnel had returned it to normal operations.
• CITGO reduced operating rates at its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• BASF Total Petrochemical’s cracker in Port Arthur, Texas, produced off-spec material because of a suspected lightning strike.

LIMITED RAIL DISRUPTIONS
On Monday, BNSF said its Pearland intermodal facility in Houston remained closed.

 WEATHER FORECAST
In the late morning, Beryl had degraded into a post tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 30 miles/hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.

It was in the northeastern part of the US state of Arkansas, and meteorologists expected it would continue traveling in that direction towards Canada.

Thumbnail shows flooding caused by Beryl. Image by Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto/Shutterstock