Hurricane Isaias Heads for Gulf Coast as Oil Firms Pull Crews, Brace for Fuel Risk

Hurricane Isaias, the first Atlantic hurricane of the season, is expected to come ashore Friday evening near the Alabama Gulf Coast and the Florida panhandle. Oil companies have spent days preparing, according to NPR, and while experts do not expect major disruptions, the storm is arriving when fuel supplies are already tight.

The main concern is two refineries on the storm's path. Together they make up a small but meaningful share of U.S. refining, at a time when gasoline and diesel prices are a political issue weeks before the midterm elections.

How oil companies are getting ready

NPR reported that Shell and BP have pulled personnel from offshore facilities near the storm's track, mainly deepwater platforms. Chevron has evacuated offshore drilling rigs close to the path and plans to send them back once the storm passes. Exxon told NPR in an emailed statement that it is closely monitoring the weather and that operations are normal.

Bryan Domangue, the Gulf of America region director for the federal Marine Minerals Administration, which oversees offshore oil and gas production, said evacuating workers is a standard precaution. He added that operators are also shutting off safety valves below the ocean floor and moving mobile drilling facilities where they can.

Why the storm's track limits the damage

Much of the nation's Gulf oil infrastructure sits further west, toward western Louisiana and Texas. Isaias is moving east rather than west. Domangue described the storm as making a swooping turn just east of the most significant infrastructure, passing a little south of some major deepwater facilities and then hugging the eastern edge of the infrastructure.

Debnil Chowdhury, head of Americas refining at S&P Global Energy, said the path "could be worse," according to NPR.

The refinery risk on land

Analysts told NPR the larger worry is whether the storm becomes strong enough to knock refineries offline. A power outage or flooding can keep a refinery down for a while, and restarting one is more complicated than restarting an oil rig or mobile drilling operation.

Carl Larry, a manager at Enverus, an energy data and research provider, compared a restart to "starting up an old car," even after a short shutdown. He explained that refineries are vast and complex. They break crude oil down into molecules that become diesel, gasoline or natural gas liquids such as propane. Pipelines bring crude in and carry refined products out, and the process needs heat. Every step depends on power generated at the facility around the clock, Larry said, so cutting that power means a slow restart.

Two significant refineries lie on the hurricane's path: Chevron's Pascagoula site and the Vertex Alabama refinery. Representatives of the refineries did not respond to NPR's requests for comment on their preparations. Ross Allen, a Chevron spokesperson, said that in general, refineries prepare for storms by trying to reduce flood risk.

Chowdhury said the two refineries account for about 2.5% of total U.S. refining capacity and about 5% of Gulf Coast refining capacity. He added that Pascagoula is especially important for supplying airports across the southeast.

Why it matters for fuel supply and prices

Those shares may look modest, but NPR noted that global supplies of diesel and gasoline are short because of the wars in Iran and Ukraine, so even small losses count. U.S. refineries are running at 92.7% of capacity, processing about 17 million barrels of crude a day, leaving little slack.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $4.37, and diesel is $6.27, according to AAA. A prolonged outage at either refinery could add pressure to supplies that are already stretched, and the Pascagoula site's role in supplying southeastern airports means any disruption could be felt in jet fuel. NPR's reporting does not say how long any outage might last, and no refinery shutdowns were reported as of publication.

What past hurricanes show

The industry has weathered storms before. NPR noted that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 remain among the most destructive in its history: nearly 3,000 platforms were in their paths, and Katrina destroyed 47 of them. More recent storms, including Francine in 2024, Ida in 2021 and Harvey in 2017, were less destructive but still halted production or reduced capacity.

Source: NPR