(Reuters) -Energy facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast have begun scaling back operations and evacuating some production sites as Tropical Storm Francine swept through the energy-rich region, and was poised to strengthen into a hurricane later Tuesday.

Francine was advancing toward the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, set to become the fourth hurricane of the Atlantic season, which concludes on November 30. Francine could intensify into a Category 2 hurricane, ahead of its expected landfall along the Louisiana coast on Wednesday evening, the National Hurricane Center said.

Offshore production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for approximately 1.8 million barrels per day or about 15% of the nation’s total crude output, could face disruptions as the storm progresses. Such interruptions have the potential to affect U.S. oil supplies, leading to upward pressure on prices for domestic oil and offshore crude grades.

The port of Brownsville near the border with Mexico and other smaller terminals in Texas remained closed on Tuesday, while other ports, including Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Texas City and Freeport, were working with restrictions.

“As Francine moves north through the Gulf of Mexico, we will continue to work closely with our maritime industry partners to fully reopen impacted ports as soon as it is safe to do so,” the U.S. Coast Guard said.

OPERATOR FACILITY CAPACITY DATE DETAILS

ExxonMobil (NYSE:) Hoover offshore platform – Sept. 09 Shut-in output and evacuated staff

Chevron (NYSE:) Gulf of Mexico – Sept. 09 Evacuating

facilitiesAnchor platform, non-essential staff from four

Tahiti oil platform offshore platforms, shutting in

oil and gas output at two offshore

production platforms

Shell (LON:) Perdido oil platform, Whale 125,000 barrels of oil Sept. 10 Evacuating

platform, Auger and equivalent per day non-essential personnel from three

Enchailada/Salsa assets (boe/d) for Perdido oil offshore oil platforms, paused

platform; 100,000 boe/d drilling operations at Whale

for Whale platform platform, shut in production at

three assets.

Freeport (LNG) LNG export plant in Texas 2.1 billion cubic feet Sept. 09 Begun storm preparations at its

per day Texas plant

Cameron (LNG) LNG export plant in Louisiana – Sept. 10 Amount of flowing to

the export plant dropped

Enbridge (NYSE:) Inc South Marsh Island 76,Ship – Sept. 10 Pulled employees from

Shoal 207, 332 platforms several offshore U.S. Gulf of

Mexico platforms

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:) Marine terminal in Myrtle – Sept. 10 Shut its international

Grove, Louisiana marine terminal in Myrtle Grove,

Louisiana

Citgo Lake Charles, Louisiana 463,000 barrels of oil Sept. 10 Adjusting operations

refinery per day as required

Woodside (OTC:) Energy U.S. offshore, Louisiana – Sept. 10 -Partially evacuating personnel

coastal operations from its Shenzi oil production

facility -Fully evacuating staff

from its coastal shorebase and

warehouse facilities in Louisiana