Recently, Hurricane “Ida” made landfall near Port Fulgion, Louisiana, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 miles per hour (241 kilometers per hour), reaching the middle of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale A Category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said Ida was moving northwest at 13 miles per hour. The hurricane not only caused local oil and petrochemical companies to suspend production, but also caused widespread power outages, damage to houses, equipment, and crops!
In the video recorded by eyewitnesses, accompanied by the harsh noise brought by the hurricane, a large piece of the roof of the hospital was lifted off, and then It was blown into pieces by the strong wind and scattered in the air. According to official news, telephone poles near the hospital, as well as the hospital’s roof and house structures, were damaged to varying degrees in the hurricane.
The hospital is full of new coronavirus patients infected with the Delta variant strain. Local hospitals are trying to prepare for the hurricane, trying to avoid evacuations and transferring patients.
According to reports, “Ida” is the fifth largest hurricane to hit the continental United States in history, and is also “one of the strongest storms” to make landfall in Louisiana. It strengthened before landing. The speed is “unprecedented”.
On the same day 16 years ago, Hurricane Katrina landed in Louisiana, ultimately claiming the lives of more than 1,800 people and causing more than 100 billion yuan in property damage. loss.
What economic impact will Hurricane Ida bring?
As Hurricane Ida continues to intensify, more than 90% of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down. The region contains 17% of U.S. oil production, 5% of natural gas production and At 15% of refining capacity, flooding and power outages in the region could also affect major pipelines that carry gasoline to the East Coast.
ExxonMobil has reportedly cut output at its Baton Rouge refinery to 50% of its 520,000 barrels per day capacity. The company apparently maintains operations at its Baton Rouge fuel terminal, which has supplied 6.3 million gallons of fuel to southeastern Louisiana this week.
The production unit at Valero Energy’s Merlaw refinery southeast of New Orleans is said to have been idled.
Phillips 66 has completely shut down its 255K b/d Alliance refinery, which it hopes to sell in part because it is frequently hit by hurricanes.
Royal Dutch Shell closed its 230,000 barrels per day Norco refinery and Geismar petrochemical plant.
Kinder Morgan has closed its international marine terminal facility, which has the capacity to store 1.7 million tons of coal and petcoke, as well as its Harvey and Seven Oaks terminals.
Hurricane “Ida” impacted the U.S. Gulf of Mexico energy companies. Among them, BP, Chevron, BHP Billiton and Murphy Oil shut down and evacuated all offshore platforms. It is understood that almost all Offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was suspended, equivalent to the shutdown of 1.74 million barrels per day of production capacity.
Nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi were without power on Monday after strong winds and heavy rains, and the storm’s move inland shifted the focus of the oil market to when refineries Can resume work.
Oil and natural gas pipeline operators are inspecting damage caused by the storm. Electric utilities warned that customers in the hardest-hit areas could face prolonged power outages.
Hurricane “Ida” hit energy companies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, shutting down most offshore platforms in the region, disrupting nearly half of gasoline production, and pushing up energy prices across the board.
Basf and other chemical giants have suffered large-scale force majeure shutdowns!
This hurricane hit not only the oil, refining business, and natural gas, but also the chemical industry. Faced with the threat of typhoons, many chemical giants such as ExxonMobil, Dow, BASF, Formosa Plastics America, Shin-Etsu, and Westlake Chemical have successively declared force majeure and shut down millions of tons of ethylene, propylene, MDI, TDI, PVC and other chemical industries. device.
▶On August 30, 2021, Dow Chemical announced the closure of its operations at the St. Charles and Plaquemine plants in Taft, Louisiana. The specific restart time is to be determined.
It is understood that both Dow factories have equipment for the production of polyethylene (PE). The ethylene unit located in Plaquemine.LA has a total capacity of 1.506 million tons/year, as well as the LLDPE unit of 544,000 tons/year, the LDPE of 534,000 tons/year, the HDPE unit of 750,000 tons/year, and the HDPE unit located in Taft.LA with a production capacity of 800,000 tons/year. tons/year LLDPE and 750,000 tons/year HDPE equipment.
The St Charles plant also produces chemicals such as acetic acid, acrylic acid, ethylene oxide (EO), glycol ethers and surfactants. The Plaquemine plant also produces chemicals such as benzene, toluene, EO, glycol ethers, propylene glycol (PG) and propylene oxide (PO).
▶At 12:00 on August 29, 2021, BASF’s Geismar plant in Louisiana announced that it had encountered force majeure and had closed its 400,000 tons/year MDI device and 160,000 tons/year. tons/year of TDI installations��, a 350,000-ton/year polyether polyol unit, a 162,000-ton/year BDO unit, and a 220,000-ton/year EO unit. Once the storm passes, safety personnel will assess the site before resuming operations.
According to data, as of the end of 2020, BASF’s total global MDI production capacity was approximately 1.9 million tons/year. The affected MDI production capacity this time is approximately 1.9 million tons/year. 21% of the total production capacity will have a considerable impact on the MDI market. The affected TDI production capacity accounts for approximately 19% of BASF’s total TDI production capacity (860,000 tons/year).
▶On August 29, 2021, ExxonMobil announced that Baytown.TX involves a 1 million tons/year ethylene/propylene cracker and a 900,000 tons/year LLDPE , 400,000 tons/year LDPE, 400,000 tons/year HDPE unit, and 54.4 metric tons/year LLDPE unit are suspended.
The ExxonMobil plant has a refinery and a chemical complex that produces ethylene, propylene, butadiene (BD), PE, polypropylene (PP), phthalate Dicarboxylic anhydride (PA), plasticizers, benzene, toluene, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), base oils and various other chemicals.
▶On August 29, 2021, Shell announced the suspension of the 625,000 tons/year and 930,000 tons/year cracking units; it closed its two plants in Geismar and Norco. The Norco area has a refinery, ethylene and propylene crackers and butadiene (BD) units, while Geismar’s plant produces linear alpha olefins (LAO), ethylene glycol (EG), ethylene oxide and glycol ethers. .
▶West Lake Chemical: 860,000 tons of PVC and 720,000 tons of vinyl chloride plants and their associated chlor-alkali plants, 560,000 tons of PVC and 720,000 tons of vinyl chloride plants and their associated Chlor-alkali plant. Both the Geismar and Plaquemines plants were safely closed ahead of the hurricane.
▶Formosa Plastics America: 513,000 tons of PVC and 650,000 tons of vinyl chloride plants and their associated chlor-alkali plants.
▶Shin-Etsu America: 600,000 tons of PVC and 1.77 million tons of vinyl chloride plants and their associated chlor-alkali plants.
Generally speaking, Louisiana has a relatively large chemical production capacity. Taking ethylene as an example, its production capacity accounts for 29% of the United States. Its downstream derivatives of ethylene include PE, ethylene glycol, and styrene. , PVC and other product supplies have a large potential impact, which will undoubtedly directly affect the market supply of PE/PP/PC/PET/styrene in North America!
(Picture source: Axis)
Incomplete data Statistics show that many companies have closed their factories in response to Hurricane Ida. Many of the plastics and chemicals produced by these factories are in short supply and prices are at record highs.
If these businesses are shut down for a long enough time due to the hurricane, it will further lead to tighter market supply. At present, the epidemic situation in some countries has not been effectively controlled, which has had a certain impact on raw materials and downstream import and export. </p
