Texas Deep Freeze Shutters Some Energy-Consuming Industry Sites

The winter storm sweeping the US has begun disrupting the operations of industrial oil and gas consumers on Texas’ Gulf Coast, including refiners, chemical plants and manufacturers.

With almost 10% of US natural gas production estimated to be offline due to the cold, much of the disruption is focused on gas.

Goodyear Bayport on Saturday shut its chemical plant in Pasadena, Texas, in preparation for the deep freeze, the company said Sunday in a posting on the Community Awareness Emergency Response website.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said Saturday it shut down some units of its oil refining complex in Baytown, Texas, because of the freezing weather. Celanese Corp. wound down operations at its Houston-area chemical plant as the weather worsened, according to a public notice.

Texas Instruments had its natural gas supply curtailed to its Dallas-area Richardson site by its utility because of the storm, the manufacturer said in a regulatory filing.

US natural gas production has plunged by about 10 billion cubic feet in recent days as frigid weather has frozen pipelines, choking off supply, even as demand for the heating fuel has surged about 18 billion cubic feet, according to BNEF data.

For oil traders, the slowdown in industrial operations could complicate speculation by some that weather-related disruptions to oil and gas production would boost oil prices as the storm leads to reduced crude consumption.

One Energy Transfer gas plant in the oil-producing Permian Basin in West Texas that received “off-specification” gas, or gas that fails to meet industry standards, going into the weekend said the problem was being compounded by the cold.

Goodyear Bayport, Texas Instruments and Energy Transfer couldn’t immediately be reached for further comment.