About 15% of US crude output remains offline after freeze-offs: S&P Global Platts
Much of US oil production has rebounded from the severe winter weather that struck much of the country starting the week of Feb. 14, including large domestic oil plays in Texas and Oklahoma, although an estimated 15% of all crude output still remains offline.
That means 3.4 million b/d have been restored of an estimated 4 million b/d that were shut in at peak early last week, Parker Fawcett, North American supply analyst for S&P Global Platts Analytics, said.
The shut-ins included a large chunk of the country’s largest oil play, the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeast New Mexico, which currently produces about 4.3 million b/d.
The total value of losses is still being tallied, but the severity and geographic scope of the storm has meant that the total cost could exceed the $19 billion in damage inflicted by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Winterize. That’s the directive Gov. Greg Abbott gave to power companies and lawmakers Thursday when he called for a law and funding to better prepare Texas’ essential power infrastructure for the kind of extreme winter weather that created multiple crises this week.
Energy experts said that in some cases, retrofitting plants to withstand cold could be extremely difficult and expensive in Texas. Many of those plants already skimped on such upgrades due to the infrequency of prolonged and widespread subfreezing temperatures in the state. That’s despite a 2011 winter storm that also caused power outages.
Building new “winterized” infrastructure, though, often adds little to the overall cost of a new project, experts say.
Winterizing Texas power infrastructure won t be easy heralddemocrat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from heralddemocrat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Gov. Greg Abbott wants power companies to âwinterize.â Texasâ track record wonât make that easy.
David J. Phillip/AP
Power lines are shown Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Houston. More than 4 million people in Texas still had no power a full day after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state s power grid and causing widespread blackouts. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
By: ERIN DOUGLAS
and last updated 2021-02-21 15:10:16-05
Winterize. Thatâs the directive Gov. Greg Abbott gave to power companies and lawmakers Thursday when he called for a law and funding to better prepare Texasâ essential power infrastructure for the kind of extreme winter weather that createdmultiplecrises this week.