Nearly a quarter of U.S. fuel production had been shut down due to the approach of Hurricane Ike, according to a government assessment released Friday.
By 10:00 A.M. ET, 13 of the 26 Texas refineries, representing a production capacity of 3.6 million barrels of fuel a day, had been shut down, the Energy Department said.
Texas accounts for more than a quarter of the nation's total capacity to produce gasoline and other petroleum fuels. In normal operation, facilities there can produce up to 4.8 million barrels a day, according to the government.
Most of the Texas refineries are located along the ports of Houston, Port Arthur, and Corpus Christi, where Ike is scheduled to make landfall Friday night or Saturday.
Refining facilities on land are more vulnerable to flooding and power outages than offshore facilities, according to Ray Carbone, president of oil trading company Paramount Options.
"Without power, no refineries will be working and the flooding could complicate how long it takes them to come back online," said Carbone.
