Hurricane Harvey May Cut Natural Gas Production For Many Weeks
Summary.....Seeking Alpha
Natural gas production could be lost for weeks, or even months, from the devastating impact of Hurricane Harvey.
Hurricane Harvey could well cut more natural gas production for a more extended period of time than any hurricane in recent memory. According to the Energy Information Administration, "Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008 and Hurricane Isaac in 2012 were the most recent hurricanes to make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast, with Ike being the last hurricane to directly affect Texas. All three storms affected oil and natural gas infrastructure in the region, each shutting in more than one million barrels per day of crude oil production and more than three billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production and temporarily shutting down significant pipeline and refining capacity. About half of U.S. oil production has historically come from Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Texas also accounts for about a quarter of U.S. natural gas production."
The image above shows the numerous pipelines located along the Gulf Coast. All of the pipelines in the path of the storm will need to be shut-in. Because the storm is sitting over South Texas crews will not be able to make the necessary preparations to restart many pipelines for days. Below is a look at the path Harvey took across this infrastructure: