Energy companies at Texas will experience five-to-seven-day restarts, as the winter storm passes and they prepare to resume oil and gas production. Electric and water supplies are slowly resuming at oilfields and refineries.
As Gulf Coast refiners assess the damages after the winter storm, they expect low water pressure and slow production rates, after everything is completely restored, said sources familiar with the matter, quoted by Reuters.
However, ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator reported no more electric outages; also, sufficient supply for morning demand and predicted it would be out of emergency later this Friday.
As we reported previously, a non-precedented winter storm hit Texas last weekend, frizzing essential energy assets such as wind turbines, oilfields and natural gas pipelines, prompting a severe scarcity on natural gas and electricity, which, in turn, boosted prices to high records.
According to the news agency, almost 4 million barrels per day of oil suffered after the storm; also, almost 21 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. As Texas is the nation’s largest oil and gas producing state, nearly a fifth of the country’s processing capacity suffered.
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Texas slowly recovering; gas supply to Mexico restoring
Consequently, many manufacturing companies had to put down production, especially those in the automotive industry. In the U.S., Ford Motor Company halted its production in Kansas, due to natural gas scarcity.
In Mexico, as we reported previously, Mazda, Volkswagen and Audio were among the many companies affected. However, pipeline natural gas exports to Mexico rose to 5,1 billion cubic feet per day this Friday, after a low record of 3,8 bcf per day on Tuesday.
“More natural gas will soon be flowing. Chevron Corp and also ConocoPhillips have begun restoring shale output, and Chevron will prioritize natural gas production,” the news agency reports.
Finally, Texas oil and gas regulators reported that power was slowly returning to normality in west Texas. However, ConocoPhillips spokesperson confirmed that: “The majority of our Permian and Eagle Ford volumes remain offline.”
