Throughout the day Thursday, Tropical Storm Harvey intensified into Hurricane Harvey, and is prepared to wreak havoc on the middle Texas coastline. More than a day before landfall, winds reached 80mph (129kph), according to a Washington Post article, with forecasters preparing for the storm to turn into a “major hurricane”, involving winds over 110mph.
Multiple production facilities in the area are already announcing closings, per PetroChem Wire and other outlets, including Formosa in Point Comfort, Equistar at Corpus Christi, OxyChem at Ingleside, DuPont and Equistar at Ingleside, Dow at Seadrift, and more. Citgo and Flint Hills Resources have also shut down the Corpus Christi refineries.
Harvey further complicates the already tight markets across multiple chemical product lines, as well as the tight transportation issues already seen in the trucking and rail logistics markets. The storm further emphasizes the importance of planning ahead, securing supply and logistics lines and availability and implementing business continuity plans.
The storm is projected to officially make landfall around 1:00am Saturday night, according to the map supplied by PetroChem Wire.
