Gas supplies have been reduced to minimum levels.

    More than 4.3 million power cuts have been recorded and more than 5 million people were left without electricity.

    Opsol, the largest power company in Texas with 10 million customers, said overloads have led to much lonnger power cuts than had initially been anticipated.

    Some residents of Dallas were left without power for eight hours and more.

    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has warned of recurring short-term blackouts throughout the state with demand outstripping supply. Low temperatures and snowfalls have led to the loss of about 30,000 MW of capacity.

    Energy Aspects Ltd. has estimated that the total loss of capacity in oil refineries has exceeded 3 million bpd.

    Motiva Enterprises LLC has announced that the refinery at Port Arthur (Texas), run by Saudi Aramco, has shut down. Refineries run by Marathon Petroleum, Total and Exxon Mobil have also suspended operations. Exxon’s disruption was due not only to weather conditions but also insufficient gas supplies.

    Bloomberg reported that the low temperatures had led to a cut in oil production of 1.5-1.7 million bpd. Gas production has been reduced by 238 million cubic metres.

    U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Texas on Sunday — a measu allowing for additional resources to be directed to the state.

    The power grid’s operators cannot for the moment say when blackouts will end as the weather forecasts call for low temperatures to persist until the end of Wednesday.