Puerto Rico Oil Terminals Still Hampered After Hurricanes

Buckeye Partners LP’s Yabucoa oil terminal in Puerto Rico has two berths and capacity for about 4.6 million barrels.

HOUSTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Buckeye Partners LP’s Yabucoa oil terminal in Puerto Rico remained closed on Friday, the company said, days after Hurricane Maria left a trail of destruction and at least 25 people dead across the Caribbean.

The U.S. oil storage and transportation company did not say if the tanks at the 4.6-million-barrel terminal were damaged by the storm, which made landfall near Yabucoa, but it said a full assessment of the facility is under way.

“We are working to maintain the safety and well-being of our Yabucoa, Puerto Rico employees,” it said in a statement.

A larger terminal operated by U.S. NuStar Energy LP on the island of St. Eustatius, with capacity to store up to 13.03 million barrels of oil, also has been unable to reopen after a previous hurricane, Irma, affected several tanks.

The closure of oil terminals in the Caribbean and restrictions to load and discharge large vessels in several Texas ports have constrained flows of crude and refined products across the Atlantic in recent weeks.

Maria, the second major hurricane to hit the Caribbean this month, lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands on Friday after knocking out power to all of Puerto Rico and pushing several rivers to record flood levels.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017.

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