Hurricane Harvey’s destruction has temporarily shut down the largest oil refinery in the U.S. due to the severe damage and flooding caused by the storm.
Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, reportedly began “a controlled shutdown” early Wednesday morning putting a halt to their 603,000 barrel-per-day oil operation.
“At 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Motiva began a controlled shutdown of the Port Arthur refinery in response to increasing local flood conditions,” the company said.
Motiva is the biggest refinery in the U.S., but is not the only Texas Gulf Coast refiner that has temporarily shut down, which could spike the price for gasoline. Exxon Mobil’s Beaumont refinery along with Total’s and Valero Energy Corp’s Port Arthur refineries were shut on Tuesday and Wednesday due to Hurricane Harvey.
A U.S. government meteorologist told CNBC that rainfall totals from the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, area may exceed the already historic rainfall totals from Houston due to the storm. The Motiva refinery also reportedly brought production down to about 40 percent of capacity by 9 p.m. Tuesday, prepared to shut down the refinery due to the rising water levels.
Motiva reportedly hoped to maintain the refinery’s production at minimum if possible but was going to move units into circulation, before making a complete shutdown.
The refinery made frequent use of its flare system, used to burn off hydrocarbons that cannot be processed normally, through the night, the sources said.
By Wednesday morning, several areas of the refinery were flooded. There was no knowledge as to what was damaged or if any inventory or production units had been effected.
The refinery made continuous use of its flare system through the night which is meant to burn off hydrocarbons that are not normally.
Since the Motiva plant is down, at least 22% of the nation’s gasoline refining capacity is offline, GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan told USA Today.
“It’s a chilling effect on the refining industry, which is a dire state right now,” DeHaan said.
Motiva said restarting the refinery would depend on flood waters receding.
The Daily Caller News Foundation received an official statement Wednesday morning from Motiva about the specifics of the plant being temporarily shut down:
At 5 am on Wednesday, August 30, Motiva began a controlled shutdown of the Port Arthur refinery in response to increasing local flood conditions. Return to service is contingent upon recession of flood waters in the area. Our priority remains the safety our employees and community.
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