Crude oil flows on Genesis Energy’s Cameron Highway Oil Pipeline System (CHOPS) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) resumed Monday after power was restored to many third-party assets downstream that were impacted by Hurricane Francine last week.
Among assets affected were gas processing plants that would normally have received gas coming in from offshore platforms. Because of the gas plant outages, GOM platforms were forced to halt, upending oil flows destined for CHOPS.
Following the return of power to onshore gas plants over the weekend, the GOM platforms have restarted, enabling crude supply to resume flowing into CHOPS. In a storm update Monday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), said about 12% of oil production and 16% of gas output in the GOM still is shut.
CHOPS is a 380-mile pipe that extends from GOM’s outer continental shelf, delivering offshore output to refineries and terminals located in Port Arthur and Texas City, Texas. Oil shipped on CHOPS is traded as Southern Green Canyon crude (SGC), a medium-heavy, high sulfur crude that is well sought among refiners in the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) and overseas.
