2024-01-17 00:26:00
© Archyde.com. Record cold wave in the United States leaves tens of thousands of households without power, North Dakota oil and gas production halved
Financial Associated Press News on January 17 (Editor Liu Rui)As an arctic cold snap swept through most of the United States last weekend, many places in the United States suffered record low temperatures.
Amid the extremely cold weather, large-scale power outages occurred in many states in the United States and thousands of flights were canceled. Meanwhile, severe cold weather shut down more than half of oil production in North Dakota, one of the nation’s major oil-producing states, and restricted refinery operations in Texas.
U.S. hit by record cold
Affected by the Arctic cold snap, much of the United States experienced record low temperatures over the weekend. Record-breaking cold weather is expected in the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and Midwest, with wind chills below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (regarding minus 34 degrees Celsius) in the central Mississippi Valley.
At least five weather-related deaths have been reported across the United States since the weekend, including two from hypothermia in Oregon.
Meanwhile, several U.S. states experienced a series of massive power outages over the weekend. Although most outages were repaired on Tuesday, more than 50,000 customers in Oregon were still without power as of Tuesday morning ET. Tens of thousands of homes are also without power in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us.
Texas grid operators have asked state residents to conserve power Tuesday morning as power demand soars during the winter storm.
More than 3,000 flights in or out of the United States were canceled or delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com, with Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport experiencing the worst mass disruptions in history.
North Dakota oil production plummets
Temperatures in key oil-producing counties in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region fell as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit (regarding minus 18 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday followingnoon EST, according to the National Weather Service, and hazardous weather warnings were in place for parts of eastern North Dakota. Lasts until Monday.
North Dakota is the third largest oil-producing state in the United States, and oil supply disruptions in the region briefly boosted WTI crude futures prices. Spot oil prices also rose along the Gulf Coast as Midwestern refineries looked to alternative sources for Bakken oil in North Dakota.
Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, said that up to 650,000 barrels of crude oil production per day are currently shut down in the region, up from 425,000 barrels per day on Monday. According to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the state’s average daily oil production reached 1.2 million barrels per day in October last year.
Due to the cold weather, the state’s average daily natural gas production is also expected to decrease by 1.6 billion to 1.8 billion cubic feet, regarding half of the state’s average daily natural gas production of 3.44 billion cubic feet.
Cold temperatures also affected refinery operations in Texas, the U.S. oil processing hub. On Tuesday, Eastern Time, Total Energy shut down multiple refining equipment in the state, Exxon Mobil’s Baytown refinery also reduced the operating rate of two equipment, and Flint Hills reduced its operating rate. The operating efficiency of a piece of equipment in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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