US oil industry faces further setbacks due to Tropical Storm Nicholas

Oil

Tropical storm Nicholas has created a range of disruptions to the US oil industry after making landfall in Texas on 14 September as a category 1 hurricane, according to Reuters. Several offshore oil platforms in the US Gulf of Mexico have been forced to evacuate, while some ports in the region, such as Corpus Christi, Freeport and Galveston also shut ahead of its arrival. Furthermore, Colonial Pipeline has been forced to shut its 1.5M b/d gasoline carrying Line 1 and the 1.2M b/d distillates bearing Line 2 following power outages in the Houston Area, according to Argus. As of 13 September, around 794K b/d (or 43.6%) of Gulf of Mexico production remained offline following Hurricane Ida’s landfall on 29 August, however this is down from the 95% forced offline at its peak on 29 August.