Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it found evidence of building damage at its 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana refinery, a company spokesman said, as reported by Reuters.
"The site did lose power and there is evidence of some building damage," Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said. "We will commence a site start up when safe to do so."
Sources familiar with plant operations said damage had been found at the Norco refinery but did not know the extent of the damage or time needed to make the repairs.
Shell is awaiting the restoration of external electrical power to the Norco refining and chemical plant complex.
Nearly all of Louisiana lost electrical power on Monday after one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the region downed transmission lines and flooded communities. Coastal areas were swamped by a storm surge so great it reversed the flow of the Mississippi River.
Analysts said it could take two to three weeks to restart producing platforms and fully resume output at Louisiana refineries. Restoring power, critical to refineries, also could take weeks, utilities officials said.
