What we do when storms hit hard

In this satellite photograph by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the growing power and size of Hurricane Ike can be seen as it closes in on Galveston, Texas, and encompasses most of the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico. Ike had already struck the eastern part of Cuba, causing tremendous damage to homes, land and crops.

Back-to-back September hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico show the exceptional preparation, planning and teamwork it takes to keep a nation’s critical fuel supplies moving safely after natural disasters strike.

First of two parts

Barely a week after Gustav raked the entire Louisiana coast, Hurricane Ike filled the Gulf of Mexico, and the eye of the storm surged through Galveston Bay on a midnight run to Houston. By noon Saturday, September 13, 100 miles of Texas beach were gone, 4 million people were without electricity, and hundreds of ExxonMobil employees were already working to put things right.

Every year, powerful Atlantic hurricanes and Pacific typhoons disrupt industry and the lives of anyone in their way. In terms of property loss, Ike was the third most destructive storm in U.S. history, behind Andrew and Katrina. Nothing can prevent such violent storms, but both the upstream and downstream sides of ExxonMobil’s business know how to prepare for them, and recover quickly once they’re gone.

The upstream plan
“Hurricanes are hardly routine, but they are certainly part of the environment where we operate,” says Gary Walz, Operations Manager for the Gulf of Mexico. “Consequently, as a hurricane approaches, we safely shut in production and temporarily evacuate all of our facilities determined to be in the path of the storm.”

People along the coast tend to remember only the major events like Gustav and Ike, but the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season  which runs from the first of June through the end of November  produced more than 70 tropical depressions and 16 named storms, including eight hurricanes.

“We monitor the weather with at least twice-daily updates throughout the season,” Walz says. “Five days from estimated impact, the hurricane response team starts regular conference calls each morning and afternoon.”

That 25-person core response team can grow to more than 90 people in major events such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

“While the storm is still three days from affecting any platforms, we begin the staged process of shutting down offshore production and moving people to shore,” Walz says. “Depending on the size of each facility, that can take from two to 16 hours.”

As offshore sites are being evacuated, pipeline terminals, supply bases and other land-based facilities in the path of the storm work through their own detailed hurricane plans.

“Part of our preparation is to make sure everyone knows his or her role,” says Allen Arnold, production operations superintendent and leader of the hurricane team. “After the storm passes, communication and cooperation remain equally important. Within 48 hours after Ike hit, we knew the location of every one of our 1,200 upstream employees in the storm area.
We knew if they were safe, if their homes were damaged
and if they needed any help.”

Most of ExxonMobil’s oil and gas production was back on stream within weeks of the storm, but there was damage to subsea pipelines (particularly third-party-operated lines the company uses) and to onshore facilities. ExxonMobil’s supply base at Grand Isle, Louisiana, took a storm surge of 10 feet of water, enough to destroy at least a third of the houses on the island. An LNG receiving terminal under construction in Texas in which the company has an interest sustained damage, as did a helicopter and supply base on Galveston Island.

Business continuity
ExxonMobil manages not only its Gulf of Mexico operations, but all of its U.S. production from two office buildings in Houston. Both lost power, and the headquarters building itself sustained some damage.

“For the first time I can recall, we lost access to our office buildings,” says Randy Cleveland, production manager, U.S. Production. “When I saw my office for the first time, two days after the storm, the windows behind my desk were gone, everything was wet, and one wall of my office was lying on the floor.”

Several windows on each side of the building blew out early in the storm. Hurricane-force winds damaged about 30 offices, and wind-driven rain filtered through the ceilings from the top floors down. In the two weeks it took to get all the carpets dry and offices repaired, most of the employees worked from other ExxonMobil buildings or from home, but thanks to planning for just such an event, there was no disruption in the core business.

“Regardless of what was happening here, we still needed to support the rest of our U.S. operation,” Cleveland explains. “When Ike appeared to be heading for Houston, we moved a team to ExxonMobil’s emergency center in Dallas, so it could begin running the U.S. Production business from there.” 

The emergency center is in Pegasus Place, Mobil’s former Dallas headquarters. In the days after the storm, more Houston employees began working there as they waited for power to return in their own offices.

“We learned from the experience,” Cleveland says, “but overall, the plans we had in place worked very well. Throughout the storm and in the weeks following, there was no time when the business was not being managed effectively, either from Houston or from Dallas. The activity was seamless.”

Recovery and startup efforts were especially successful as they were completed without anyone getting hurt  a feat Cleveland attributes to the outstanding dedication and support of hundreds of employees in offices and in the field, some of whom were affected by the hurricanes, who went above and beyond the call of duty to support the business.