WASHINGTON, October 29, 2012 – Hurricane Sandy is forecast to make landfall on the East Coast late today, and the oil and natural gas industry is prepared to ensure safety ahead of and during the storm, and to quickly resume any operations impacted by the hurricane.
“Hurricane procedures have been implemented and will remain in effect until the passing of the storm,” said Bob Greco, API director of downstream operations. “Onshore facilities have been secured for the storm. This includes pipelines, refineries and terminals.”
API provides public hurricane information online that explains industry preparedness. The mid-Atlantic and northeast regions are home to tens of thousands of petroleum industry employees. With their safety in mind, API helps provide information on federal and local activity during hurricanes and storms to assist industry preparations.
“The companies and individual facilities involved work closely with federal, state and local governments to prepare for hurricanes and return operations to normal as quickly and as safely as possible,” Greco said. “They regularly review and update emergency response plans, establish redundant communications paths and make arrangements with suppliers to help ensure they have adequate resources during an emergency.”
API serves as an industry liaison to regulatory agencies to coordinate industry review of critical design standards and provide a forum for sharing lessons learned from previous hurricanes.
Additional sites for your reference:
API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.