-- ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva said on Oct 26 the company's
239,000 b/d refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was expected to
return to normal operations next week after it was idled ahead of
Hurricane Rita in late September and damaged by the storm. Mulva, in
the company's third-quarter earnings statement, also reiterated
earlier guidance that the 247,000 b/d Alliance refinery in Belle
Chasse, Louisiana, was due to restart partial operations in December
and return to full rates in early 2006 after it was battered by
Hurricane Katrina in August.
-- Damage to platforms by hurricanes Katrina and Rita has kept
40% of Murphy Oil's US Gulf production shut in, but output should
improve over the next month as the company works to increase output
by one-third before next year, company executives said on Oct 26
during a third quarter earnings call for financial analysts. Murphy
late on Oct 25 also said its 125,000 b/d refinery in Meraux,
Louisiana, would be idled through the first quarter of 2006 while
repairs are made to damage caused by Katrina.
-- US crude imports and refinery inputs jumped significantly last
week, giving further evidence that the country's energy
infrastructure is recovering in the wake of back-to-back beatings
from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the US Energy Information
Administration said on Oct 26.
-- The US Senate Environment Committee failed to pass a
Republican-backed refinery and fuels bill on Oct 26, making passage
of legislation this session to address soaring gasoline prices in
the wake of recent Gulf hurricanes exceedingly unlikely.
-- Enterprise Product Partners on Oct 26 said one natural gas
processing plant at its Toca facility in Chalmette, Louisiana,
resumed operations on Oct 23 and currently is processing 280,000
Mcf/d. Enterprise also said it expects a second plant at the Toca
facility to resume operations by mid-November. The facility was
heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
-- Crude and natural gas production shut-ins in the Gulf of
Mexico have decreased slightly, the US Minerals Management Service
said on Oct 26, after three straight days of rising disruptions due
to Hurricane Wilma. The agency said oil shut-ins in the Gulf as of
11:30 a.m. CDT Oct 26 were 1,022,515 b/d, or 68.17% of normal
production of 1.5-mil b/d. That compares with 1,033,621, or 68.91%
on Oct 25. Gas shut-ins slipped to 5.563 Bcf/d, or 55.63% of typical
production of 10 Bcf/d. On Oct 25, shut-ins were 5.582 Bcf/d, or
55.82%.
-- The following refineries are down in the wake of Rita:
ConocoPhillips: Lake Charles, Louisiana, (239,000 b/d), said Oct 26
expects full operations restored week of Oct 31; BP: Texas City,
Texas, (446,500 b/d), restart within a month, but may not produce
until end of October due to regulatory scrutiny, sources told Platts;
Calcasieu: Lake Charles, (30,000 b/d), power restored.
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