Isaias Puts 500,000 Barrels a Day of Refining Capacity at Risk

(Bloomberg) —

Nearly 500,000 barrels a day of oil-refining capacity sit in the projected path of Hurricane Isaias, raising the risk that a US fuel market with no supplies to spare will lose critical output.

Along with the potential human toll within the storm’s path, hurricane damage to fuel-making facilities would threaten to push up pump prices across the country, with limited slack in a historically tight fuels market. Nationally, gasoline prices averaged $4.36 a gallon as of Wednesday, according to AAA. Diesel prices set an all-time record in September and were at about $6.28 a gallon on Wednesday.

Isaias is currently gathering strength and expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday, with Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle at risk. The storm has already prompted offshore producers to shut in more than 60% of crude output at a time when oil markets are under pressure from the war in Iran.

Fuel markets are even more vulnerable to potential price spikes amid limited US inventories for gasoline and diesel. Supplies have been tight even with refiners running hard, so that means even small production losses tied to Isaias could create sharp price jumps for consumers at the pump. 

Here’s a look at the facilities at risk:

• Chevron Corp.’s Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery was on the western edge of the National Hurricane Center’s projected storm path as of Thursday, and the southeast Mississippi coast is currently under a hurricane warning.
  • Pascagoula can process 356,000 barrels a day of crude oil.
  • Chevron is monitoring the storm’s development and track and making “appropriate preparations” at onshore facilities, the company said.
• Vertex Energy Inc.’s Mobile, Alabama, facility is directly in the storm’s projected path.
  • The refinery can process 88,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
  • Vertex didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Hunt Refining Co.’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama, refinery is further inland, but still is under a tropical storm watch and is in the storm’s forecast path.
  • The refinery can process 50,000 barrels a day of crude oil.
  • Hunt didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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