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10.10.2018 12:20
© BP
More than a third of the oil production in the US Gulf of Mexico has been shut down as a precaution as Hurricane Michael moves through the region, pushing crude prices higher, the Financial Times reports.
Hurricane Michael on Tuesday intensified to a Category 3 storm, meaning winds of up to 210km per hour and an expectation of “devastating damage”.
The eye of the storm is moving through an area of the gulf that is not open for drilling, bypassing the principal concentration of oil and gas production platforms. However, the breadth of its path means that many companies have decided to shut down operations to minimise risks to people and facilities.
Oil companies have evacuated 75 platforms, and by Tuesday had shut down 670,000 barrels a day of production, about 40 per cent of the total in the US gulf, according to S&P Global Platts. About 28 per cent of the region’s gas production was similarly shut down.
The disruption to oil production helped push internationally traded Brent crude up about $1.20 to $85 a barrel on Tuesday.
BP said it had evacuated personnel and shut production at all four of its large oil platforms in the deep water of the gulf: Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika and Thunder Horse.
It said it was monitoring the storm “to ensure the safety of our personnel and operations”, and had decided to evacuate after forecasts showed that the storm was expected to strengthen as it moved into the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Chevron said it had shut down and evacuated two of its platforms, Blind Faith and Petronius, in preparation for the storm, but the rest of its assets in the Gulf of Mexico were still operational. It added that it would remain focused on “the safety of our workforce, the integrity of our facilities and the protection of the environment”.
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