Ida’s impacts on Louisiana refining, petchem complexes uncertain

Current operations at most of Louisiana’s major refining and petrochemical complexes remain uncertain in the wake of Hurricane Ida, the eye of which made landfall as a Category 4 storm along the southeastern coast of Louisiana, near Port Fourchon, at about 11:55 a.m. CST with estimated sustained winds of 150 mph.

While several operators confirmed undertaking precautionary shutdowns of many refineries and petrochemical plants ahead of the hurricane’s arrival, updates regarding current operations at the sites were slow coming on Monday, presumably amid widespread electrical outages in the region which has left more than 1 million Louisiana residents without power as of midday, according to local New Orleans news broadcasts.

As of 10:00 a.m. CST on Aug. 30, ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Co. confirmed via official social media channels that its 520,000-b/d integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Baton Rouge, La., did not sustain any major damage from the storm. The complex, which maintained operation at reduced rates throughout the storm to stabilize equipment and minimize emissions, is continuing to shut down refining units to further stabilize operations, which the company warned would result in flaring from the site.

ExxonMobil said it will begin the process of returning its Baton Rouge plants to normal operations after the company is able to confirm it has access to required feedstocks and third-party utilities needed to stabilize the manufacturing system.

ExxonMobil confirmed it already had undertaken precautionary unit shutdowns ahead of the storm in an Aug. 29 post to its social media channels. Alongside the refinery, the Baton Rouge site houses the company’s integrated petrochemical units that produce 1.1 million tonnes/year (tpy) of ethylene, 1.3 million tpy of polyethylene, and 400,000 tpy of polypropylene, according to the company’s latest annual report.

As of 9:00 p.m. CST on Aug. 28, Phillips 66 confirmed via a statement to the company’s website that it had completed a safe and orderly shutdown of operations and released all personnel from work at its 255,600-b/d Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, La. Further updates regarding the status of the refinery, however, have yet to be released.

Elsewhere in the region, Royal Dutch Shell PLC said via its social media channels that it had made the decision to initiate a safe and orderly shutdown of its 230,611-b/d integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in Norco, La., in anticipation of Ida’s arrival. While the company said essential personnel would remain on site to ensure around-the-clock safety and security as well as to provide assessments of the storm’s impact to support a safe restart, the company had yet to update the situation at Norco by midday on Aug. 30.

Alongside the refinery, Shell’s Norco complex produces 3.33 billion lb/year of ethylene, 1.44 billion lb/year of propylene, and 350,000 lb/year of butadiene, according to the operator’s website.

Other major operators in the region remained silent regarding the operational status of or precautionary measures taken at their Louisiana manufacturing sites. While local New Orleans news broadcasts said Valero Energy Corp. had confirmed precautionary shutdowns of subsidiaries Valero Refining Meraux LLC’s 125,000-b/d refinery in Meraux, La., and Valero Refining New Orleans LLC’s 215,000-b/d refinery in Norco, the company did not respond to OGJ’s request for confirmation of the shutdowns.

Corporate policies that restrict disclosure of information regarding daily operations at manufacturing sites also has left the situational status unclear for Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s 578,000-b/d refinery in Garyville, La., and PBF Energy Inc. subsidiary Chalmette Refining LLC’s 185,000-b/d dual-train coking refinery in Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, La., outside of New Orleans.