Hurricane Isaias Shuts In Oil Platforms; Two Refineries on Alert — OPIS

Isaias, which has strengthened into a major hurricane earlier Friday, has shut in offshore oil production platforms and could affect operations of two oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Isaias, a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h), was 170 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center said in an 8:20 a.m. ET update. Isaias is currently moving north-northeast at 15 mph and is expected to make landfall along the Mississippi coastline late Friday or early Saturday, according to NHC.

Isaias has already impacted offshore crude oil and natural gas production in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, the Energy Information Administration said early Friday.

Based on midday Thursday offshore operator reports, the U.S. Martine Minerals Administration estimated about 63% of the daily oil production and around 57% of natural gas production has been shut in.

In addition, personnel have been evacuated from a total of 121 production platforms, or 32.61% of the 371 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

After the storm has passed, facilities will be inspected and production from undamaged facilities will be brought back online immediately following standard checks. However, facilities sustaining damage may take longer to bring back online.

At Isaias' current path, operations of only two refineries -- Chevron's 375,200 b/d Pascagoula, Miss., and Vertex Energy's 91,200 b/d Mobile, Ala., -- are at risk of being impacted, Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said Friday.

Representatives of both Chevron and Vertex did not respond to questions at the time of publication.

The biggest risks to the operations of oil refineries include a loss of electricity and flooding.

According to Lipow, there may be some slight delays in delivering gasoline and diesel to parts of Florida including the Florida Panhandle, Tampa-St. Petersburg and into Orlando. This is because tankers crossing the Gulf need to wait for Isaias to pass.

"The price impact on gasoline and diesel is probably only 2 or 3 cents, but that is masked by events happening in the Middle East and Russia impacting the oil market," Lipow said.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Reporting by Frank Tang, frank.tang@dowjones.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 09, 2026 10:53 ET (14:53 GMT)