Accessible Version
Natural Disasters and the Measurement of Industrial Production: Hurricane Harvey, a Case Study, Accessible Data
Chart 1: Working U.S. Capacity for Oil Refineries.
This line chart shows the percent of U.S. capacity of oil refineries that is operational over the period just before Hurricane Harvey made landfall through late September 2017. The x-axis measures the date and ranges from August 23, 2017 through September 28, 2017. The y-axis shows the percent of capacity that is operational and ranges from 75 percent through 100 percent. The chart includes two dashed vertical lines--one on August 25th, the date Hurricane Harvey made landfall, the other is September 1st. There is a source note at the base of the chart indicating that the data reflect staff calculations from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Situation Reports.
The data are shown as a solid black line. The line is flat for the first three days (August 23rd through August 25th) around 97 percent, and then it drops sharply until August 30th at around 76 percent. It stays close to 76 percent through September 1st, after which it rises fairly steadily, reaching just under 95 percent on September 28th.
Source: Federal Reserve Board staff calculations based on U.S. Department of Energy, Situation Reports
Chart 2: Working U.S. Capacity for Plastic Resin and Organic Chemicals.
This line chart shows, for producers of plastic resin and of organic chemicals, the percent of U.S. capacity that is operational over the period just before Hurricane Harvey made landfall through late September 2017. The x-axis measures the date and ranges from August 23, 2017 through September 29, 2017. The y-axis shows the percent of capacity that is operational and ranges from 30 percent through 100 percent. The chart includes two dashed vertical lines--one on August 25th, the date Hurricane Harvey made landfall, the other is September 1st. There is a source note at the base of the chart indicating that the data reflect staff calculations from the PetroChemWire Chemical Plants database.
There are two lines for data on the chart--a solid red line for plastic resin and a dashed black line for organic chemicals. Both data lines on the chart follow a similar pattern. The lines are flat for the first two days (August 23rd and 24th) around 90 percent, and then they drop steeply. The line for organic chemicals bottoms out on August 30th at around 35 percent and then it rises solidly up through September 14th, reaching about 68 percent; after that it rises more modestly and is about 76 percent on September 29th. The line for plastic resin bottoms out on August 31st. It stays flat until September 3rd, after which it rises modestly, reaching about 72 percent on September 29th.
Source: PetroChem Wire, Chemical Plants database