-- ExxonMobil on Oct 5 said its refinery in Baytown, Texas -- the
largest in the US -- "has resumed normal operations." The company
did not provide details on output at the 557,000 b/d facility. The
company also confirmed that power had been restored to its 349,000
b/d refinery in Beaumont, Texas, but did not give a date for the
plant's restart.
-- Valero Energy has been forced to idle the fluid catalytic
cracking unit at its 135,000 b/d Houston refinery for 10-12 days to
repair a problem that was "exacerbated" by the refinery's shutdown
ahead of Hurricane Rita, the company said on Oct 5.
-- Swift Energy on Oct 5 said it has restored about 80% of
pre-Hurricane Katrina production at its Lake Washington Field in
Louisiana, and that output at its Masters Creek Field in Louisiana
and its Brookeland Field in Texas "is expected to be restored to
100% of pre-Rita levels within a week."
-- The US Environmental Protection Agency has extended a waiver
of low-sulfur diesel specifications until Oct 25 for the Gulf Coast
region (PADD III) and the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to an
EPA letter to Virginia Governor Mark Warner obtained by Platts. EPA
cited continued shortages of on-highway diesel after hurricanes
Katrina and Rita shuttered Gulf Coast refineries.
-- US contract driller Rowan plans to add nine land rigs to its
fleet by the end of the second quarter as part of a program to
recoup revenues lost to hurricane-damaged equipment, the company
said on Oct 5. The company said Hurricane Rita apparently sunk three
of its jack-up rigs while leaving a fourth severely damaged, costing
Rowan revenues of $290,000/day.
-- Carrizo Oil & Gas on Oct 5 said that it had "moderate
disruption" to its third quarter production due to shut-ins from
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Houston-based independent added
that all the shut in wells "have been put back on line to sales,"
but that the estimated reduction in production for the quarter was
2,000 MMcfe/d.
-- All Mexico's oil and petrochemicals ports on the Gulf Coast
were open to shipping early on Oct 5, the Ministry of Communications
and Transportation reported. The nation's three main oil-loading
ports -- Dos Bocas, Cayo Arcas and Pajaritos -- had been closed
since late on Oct 3, but reopened early on Oct 5 after the passage
of Tropical Storm Stan.
-- The November NYMEX gas futures contract set a new open-outcry
high for the front-month contract in intraday trading on Oct 5 as it
soared to $14.75/MMBtu after the Department of Energy and the
American Petroleum Institute released their weekly oil data. Fears
of production loss continue to haunt the market in the aftermath of
Rita.
-- Sabine Pipe Line LLC lifted its force majeure at another
pipeline interconnect with Henry Hub effective on Oct 5, bringing
the number of operational interconnects at the hub to three. The
force majeure the pipeline declared Sept 22 due to Hurricane Rita
remains in effect for hub connections with the other 10 pipelines
that interconnect with the South Louisiana facility.
-- The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources said on Oct 5
that operators of 784 wells, or 13.2% of the wells in a 38-parish
region covering most of the state, reported those wells as
producing. The status of 52.6% of those wells still is unaccounted
for, while 2,034 wells, 34% of the total, were reported shut-in. The
numbers indicate a 1% increase in the number of producing wells
since Oct 4.
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