Refiners, offshore producers shut ahead of Hurricane Sally landfall

HOUSTON: More than one-fifth of U.S. offshore oil production was shut and key exporting ports were closed on Tuesday ahead of Hurricane Sally's landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the second significant hurricane to shutter oil and gas activity over the last month.

Sally was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane on Monday and could strengthen further before making landfall late on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm's trajectory has shifted east toward southwestern Mississippi, however, sparing some of Louisiana's refining operations.