Port Fourchon Open, LOOP Remains Closed Following Hurricane Ida

By Liz Hampton (Reuters) Port Fourchon and the Port of Houma in southern Louisiana reopened on Thursday night with some restrictions, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, following lengthy closures from Hurricane Ida.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the largest privately-owned crude export and import terminal in the United States, remained closed, according to the Coast Guard.

Port Fourchon is a critical hub for the U.S. offshore oil and gas industry, which supplies some 17% of the nation’s crude. As of Thursday, about 94% of that oil output was shuttered while 177, or 32%, of all offshore oil platforms, were evacuated.

A survey of Port Fourchon done on Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed there were no major obstructions in its main waterways, including a key artery to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Port Fourchon took a direct hit from Hurricane Ida when it made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane. A wind gust of more than 190 miles (306 km) per hour was unofficially observed, while the storm surge was estimated to have hit between 12 to 14 feet (4.3 m), a port official said this week.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Stephen Coates, Reuters)

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