Nearly 58% of Gulf off-shore oil production shut down by storms

 

 

Offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated well before Hurricane Marco hit the coast on Sunday.

Reports indicated that as a result of Marco and threatening Tropical Storm Laura, energy operators had shut down nearly 58% or 1.07 million bbl/d of offshore crude production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also, 44.6%, or 1,205 MMcf/d, of natural gas output was shut ahead of the storms, the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said.

Workers have been evacuated from 114 production platforms out of the 643 manned platforms in the GoM, BSEE said.

Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura, also expected to become a hurricane, are poised to make back-to-back landfalls along the central Gulf Coast by mid-week. It is rare to have two simultaneously spinning in the Gulf and has raised concerns of double-barrel hits to coastal communities.

However, neither storm is expected to become a major hurricane, and their potential tracks cover a wide area of the Gulf Coast, said forecasters.

Murphy Oil Corp. and BHP Group Plc on Aug. 22 were evacuating some workers and Royal Dutch Shell Plc began shutting oil and gas production at most of its offshore operations. Murphy was making plans for possible production cuts, the company said.

Source: Hart Energy