-- Tropical Storm Wilma was 235 miles south-southeast of Grand
Cayman at 2 p.m. EDT on Oct 17 (1800 GMT) with maximum sustained
winds near 50 mph. The storm was expected to turn west over the next
24 hours and could strengthen into a hurricane on Oct 18, according
to the US National Hurricane Center. The agency's latest forecast
track has Wilma brushing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula before entering
the southern Gulf of Mexico early on Oct 15. If that path is
maintained, Wilma would cut through the central Gulf next week and
made landfall eventually along the battered Gulf Coast.
-- Valero Energy on Oct 17 said its 250,000 b/d Port Arthur
refinery was currently running at 75% of typical capacity and that
it expected the facility to be at full rates by the end of this
week. The refinery was idled ahead of Hurricane Rita and damaged by
the storm. It was brought back online last week.
-- Royal Dutch Shell on Oct 17 said the 333,700 b/d Deer Park
refinery near Houston was operating at normal rates following its
restart after a pre-Hurricane Rita shutdown.
-- Lyondell-Citgo early on Oct 17 was performing a damage
assessment of the fluid catalytic cracker at its 268,000 b/d
refinery in Houston after an explosion and fire hit the unit on Oct
16, a company spokesman said. The spokesman told Platts there was no
timetable for the return of the unit, which was hit by the blast as
it was again attempting to restart in the aftermath of Hurricane
Rita.
-- Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged so many links in the
natural gas supply chain, from producing platforms to pipelines to
processing plants, that before a full recovery is completed sometime
next year, up to 711 Bcf of gas production will have been shut-in,
the energy consultants in the Houston office of Wood Mackenzie said
on Oct 17.
-- The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources on Oct 17
reported no increase over the weekend in oil and natural gas
production from onshore and shallow-water wells hit by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. The agency said an estimated 52,312 b/d of oil
production, or 25.75% of the region's pre-storm output of 203,139
b/d had been restored. DNR put restored natural gas production at
756,600 Mcf/d, about 33.85% of the region's pre-storm output of
roughly 2.235 Bcf/d. Both figures were unchanged from DNR's Oct 14
update.
-- The US Minerals Management Service said on Oct 17 in its daily
production update in the wake of Katrina and Rita, that oil shut-ins
were 996,291 b/d, or 66.42% of normal production of 1.5-mil b/d. On
Oct 14, oil shut-ins were 1.009-mil b/d, or 67.26% of normal. MMS
also said natural gas shut-ins as of Oct 17 stood at 5.498 Bcf/d, or
54.98% of normal output of 10 Bcf/d. On Oct 14, gas shut-ins were
5.647 Bcf/d, or 56.47% of normal.
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