How miserable is Texas after the sudden cold wave?

The United States is still shrouded in the shadow of COVID-19 virus. Unexpectedly, the epidemic has not receded from the United States, and there has been a cold wave in other places. The epidemic, coupled with the raging cold wave, plunged the country into despair. In this extreme weather, the life of American residents is not very good. Let's see what's going on together.

Texas was hit by a cold wave, and many people died of it.

According to American media reports, the southern part of the United States has experienced extreme weather that has never happened in a hundred years. The temperature here is around 20.7℃ all the year round, but I didn't expect it to drop to MINUS ten degrees this time. Many local residents are not prepared for the cold, and this cold wave has caused dozens of people to die because of the cold weather, and some even died because of the low temperature. The cold wave caused water and electricity cuts in many local areas, and almost the whole system was paralyzed. Texas is an energy-producing state in the United States. This week, it can not only meet its own construction schedule, but also export to the outside world. However, I didn't expect this extreme weather to lead to such serious water and electricity cuts.

According to ERCOT, which is responsible for more than 90% of the electricity supply in Texas, the wholesale electricity price once exceeded 1 1,000 USD /MWh, about 200 times of the usual electricity price.

Insufficient power supply caused some residents to freeze or take other ways to warm up, causing many deaths. According to the latest report of CCTV Finance, on the night of February 16 local time, 600,000 households and businesses in Texas have resumed power supply. Nevertheless, due to freezing, low temperature and other bad weather conditions, power outages can only be implemented in turn throughout Texas to reduce the demand for electricity and avoid more lasting? Catastrophic power outage? .

On the other hand, natural gas production in the United States has also suffered a historic interruption. According to IHS Markit, about 20% of the natural gas supply in the United States was interrupted by the situation in Texas, and the decline in natural gas supply further led to a corresponding reduction in power generation. Texas authorities have banned natural gas companies from exporting fuel outside the state.

Oil refining, semiconductor, agriculture and other industries may be affected.

It is worth noting that Texas is the most important oil-producing state in the United States, and the extremely cold weather forced the temporary closure of oil fields and refineries. Mortiva, the largest refinery in North America, announced that it would close its port arthur refinery in Texas due to severe cold weather. Energy companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil have also taken steps to close their factories in Texas.

Citigroup analysts estimate that the daily output of shale oil in the United States will be reduced by at least 2 million barrels due to extremely cold weather. By the beginning of March, the cumulative production reduction will reach160,000 barrels.

John, a partner of new york Re-capital? Kilduff said that US refining output has dropped by at least one fifth. But unlike hurricane disasters, infrastructure is unlikely to be damaged by cold weather. As the cold wave passes, production will resume soon.