LOUISIANA ENERGY- Oil and Gas Refinery operations are still down in Southwest Louisiana due to the power disruptions caused by Hurricane Laura two weeks ago. Two sites there make up about 30% of the Nation’s Strategic Petroleum reserve. U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette paid a visit to Louisiana yesterday to make an assessment. During a Zoom press conference with Governor John Bel Edwards, he offered this observation.
"I talked to many of the companies that who operate refineries in the area," Brouillette said. "I'm happy to report that the damage while significant, is not oging to permenantly damage operations and we would expect to see many of them come online as soon as we can restore power to the area."
As of Thursday there is still significant work being done to restore the energy grid in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes as major transmission lines and hundreds of miles of power lines were destroyed. Without power, oil can’t be refined and gas can’t be produced but Brouillette said consumer demand is way down and the nation’s Oil and Gas inventory is good for now.
"A bit of a mixed blessing here in the sense that we have a Covid pandemic which has depressed demand for refined product like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel over the course of the last few months," Brouillette explained. "That's allowed inventories to build up so I'm happy to report that there aren't any shortages of refined product that is being reported across the, not only lower part of Louisiana but other parts of the U.S. as well."
Entergy of Louisiana announced earlier this week that it will likely be mid-September before power can be restored to the area as crews have reportedly brought one of the nine major transmission lines to the region online yesterday. As to what resources the federal government may bring to help the state, Brouillette a native of Louisiana concluded the press conference with this comment.
"The president has taken some very agressive steps, he's directed me to take some very agressive steps," Brouillette said. "We've already delivered roughly $7 billion dollars in SBA loans to approximately 80,000 businesses across the state of Louisiana, I look forward to doing more of that. If there's anything at all for my home state, know that I will."
