-- The National Hurricane Center's Sep 22, 11 a.m. EDT advisory
on Hurricane Rita now forecasts that the storm will make landfall
early Saturday further east than initially expected, just east of
Galveston Bay and very close to the Texas-Louisiana border.
-- Numerous refineries were being completely shut down ahead of
Rita, including Valero's Houston, Texas City and Port Arthur plants;
ExxonMobil's Baytown and Beaumont refineries; Total's refinery in
Port Arthur; and ConocoPhillips' refinery in Lakes Charles,
Louisiana.
-- The Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel have been
cleared of all vessels, including oil tankers, a dispatcher from the
Houston Pilots Association said.
-- The European Union believes there is no need for an additional
release of emergency oil stocks in the wake of Hurricane Katrina but
plans to meet in three weeks to discuss the likely supply impact of
Hurricane Rita, the head of the EU's energy commission said Friday.
-- The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a waiver so
conventional gasoline can be sold in Houston instead of only
reformulated gasoline. The move was made to head off any supply
shortages due to Hurricane Rita.
-- Williams' Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Thursday said gas
supply cuts have increased to 1 Bcf/d because of producer shutins
ahead of Hurricane Rita, adding to the growing list of offshore gas
pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico that have curtailed or ceased flows
because of the storm.
-- Duke Energy Field Services is shutting down its natural gas
gathering and processing facilities in the Mobile Bay, Alabama,
Houston, and in the south Texas areas because the facilities are in
the projected path of Rita, parent company Duke Energy said
Thursday.
-- Rita will possibly delay progress Entergy is making toward
restoring power to Katrina victims, a company spokesman said.
Entergy still has nearly 214,000 customers without power around New
Orleans.
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