8/31/05 12:05:48 PM
By Chip Taulbee, Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report
Production at three Murphy Oil Corp. facilities is still halted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but damage to two deepwater platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and a refinery near New Orleans appears to be minimal, the company said early Wednesday.
Mindy West, Murphy Oil’s director of investor relations, said that so far the damage assessments for the El Dorado-based energy company’s facilities have been “as good of a report as we could have hoped for.”
arkansasbusiness.com...
Update 1: Murphy Oil: 'Minimal Damage' From Katrin
09.01.2005, 04:41 PM
Murphy Oil Corp. said Hurricane Katrina had inflicted "only minimal damage" on its facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, and that its refinery in Meraux, La., also escaped major damage. But the company couldn't estimate when production and refining would resume.
On Thursday, El Dorado-based Murphy Oil said some flooding occurred at the Meraux refinery, which handles 125,000 barrels of oil a day. The company said the facility needed electrical repairs on some equipment and instrumentation as well as a general cleanup.
The company said only preliminary inspections had been done on its Gulf oil fields and no assessment has been made of its pipelines.
Shares of Murphy Oil rose 60 cents, or 1.1 percent, to close at $55.25 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
www.forbes.com...
It was not immediately known how much oil spilled at the Meraux, La., refinery, but the El Dorado-based company said in a release that some of the oil has been contained within the refinery grounds. The spill was found Saturday, the company said.
www.nola.com.../base/news-18/1125868441206524.xml&storylist=hurricane
EL DORADO, Ark. -- Aerial photographs confirm that a leak at the flooded Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux, La., is spreading into a nearby neighborhood.
The crude oil spill was discovered Sunday leaking from an 85,000-barrel tank. The aerial photographs later showed it seeping through the flood waters to the neighborhood west of the refinery, which is owned and operated by El Dorado-based Murphy Oil.
Darin Mann, a spokesman from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said the leak was first seen during a DEQ flyover, but state officials don't know how much oil has leaked out or when cleanup can begin.
www.katc.com...
Murphy Oil Corp. said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that two class-action lawsuits have been filed against the company and its Murphy Oil USA Inc. unit because of leaks blamed on Hurricane Katrina. The suits were filed by residents of St. Bernard Parish, La., and seek unspecified damages caused by a release of crude oil at the company's Meraux, La., refinery. … The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States decreased by five this week to 1,436. Of the rigs running nationwide, 1,230 were exploring for gas and 202 for oil, Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. Four were listed as miscellaneous. … Clarcor Inc. shares fell Friday after two firms downgraded the company, citing a run-up in the stock. The downgrades came after the Franklin, Tenn.-based maker of filtration and packaging products missed third-quarter sales expectations. The company's shares fell $2.15, or 6.9 percent, to close at $29.20 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy.
