Bahamas oil terminals restart after Hurricane Irene
Buckeye Partners initiated start up procedures on Friday at BORCO, its marine terminal in the Bahamas, following the passage of Hurricane Irene.
Buckeye had suspended operations at the terminal on Wednesday night as part of its preparations to secure the facility for Irene.
The storm has now passed the Bahamas and there has been effectively no adverse impact from the storm on the facility, the company reported.
"We expect the terminal to be fully operational again by Monday," said Clark C. Smith, Buckeye's president and chief operating officer.
"We also will be resuming work on our expansion project at BORCO now that the storm has passed,” he added. “Safety is a top priority at Buckeye. We have well-established plans that we activate during storm conditions to secure our facilities and we will continue to make every effort to ensure safe operations."
Statoil also reportedly closed its South Riding Point crude terminal in the Bahamas, but company officials said Friday that there was no damage. The facility is expected to re-open later in the weekend or early next week, officials said.
Buckeye has also been preparing its facilities along the US East Coast for storm conditions related to Irene, it said.
Irene is expected to make landfall early Saturday along the Outer Banks region of North Carolina before tracking northward through the mid-Atlantic region of the US.
The storms winds were 100 miles/hour as of midday Friday, making it a Category 2 hurricane.
No major industry shutdowns had yet been announced in the US, though many East Coast firms were said to be keeping a close eye on Irene’s progress.
Decisions on production could be made later in the day, according to reports.
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