-- The Houston Ship Channel has reopened to all daylight transit
vessels with a draft of 35 feet or less for the first time since
Hurricane Rita's pass through the area, a Vessel Traffic Service
official with the US Coast Guard told Platts on Sep 27.
-- Meridian Resource Corp on Sep 27 said that onsite and aerial
inspections of the majority of its production facilities in
southcentral and southwestern Louisiana indicate that its production
facilities are "essentially intact and undamaged" in the wake of
Hurricane Rita.
-- The latest temporary waiver of the Jones Act will run until
12:01 am on Oct 24, the US Energy Department said late Sep 26. The
waiver allows foreign shipping vessels to transport petroleum and
refined petroleum products between domestic ports. President George
W Bush on Sep 26 said he intended to extend the waiver, which he
first initiated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina after Hurricane
Rita shutdown a slew of refining capacity along the Gulf Coast.
-- Transocean on Sep 27 said that two of its semisubmersible rigs
were damaged during Hurricane Rita. Houston-based Transocean
reported that its moored semisubmersible rig Transocean Marianas was
forced off its drilling location during Rita and is grounded in
shallow water at Eugene Island Block 133, about 140 miles northwest
of its pre-storm location.
-- Sabine Pipe Line continues to send more damage assessment
teams to the Henry Hub in southwestern Louisiana on Sep 27, a
company spokesman said. The Hub has been flooded in the aftermath of
Hurricane Rita.
-- Cleco Corp had 57,864 customers without power early on Sep 27
due to the landfall of Hurricane Rita on Sep 24, down from a peak of
136,584, the Pineville, Louisiana-based utility said.
-- CenterPoint Energy and TXU Electric Delivery still have a
combined 127,000 customers without electricity in East Texas in the
aftermath of Hurricane Rita, the utilities said the morning of Sep
27.
-- Columbia Gulf Transmission remained under force majeure on Sep
27 for meters upstream and including the Egan, Louisiana,
measurement stations and meters 433, 434, 437 and 438. The force
majeure was called due to high water at and around the Pecan Island
compressor and separation station in southern Louisiana resulting
from Hurricane Rita.
-- Due to unspecified damage to its South Marsh Island gas
production platform in the US Gulf, ANR Pipeline Company declared a
force majeure late on Sep 26, to continue until further notice.
Crews are still assessing the full extent of Hurricane Rita's damage
the which impacts a portion of the 24-inch Vermillion line, which is
southeast of Kinder, the company said.
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