BSEE: 22 Percent of U.S. Gulf Oil Output Shut-in On Storm

Current disturbances in the Atlantic. Image: National Hurricane Center

Offshore oil and gas operators have shut-in approximately 19.52 of of the current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Hermine makes its way across the eastern portion of the Gulf towards Florida.

The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday that Tropical Depression 9 had strengthened into a Tropical Storm with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. A 1 p.m. CDT update from the NHC said the center of Tropical Storm Hermine was located about 395 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida and moving north at 2 mph. The forecasted track of the storm showed that center of Hermine will approach the northwest Florida coast on Thursday afternoon. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or two, and Hermine could be near hurricane strength by the time landfall occurs, the NHC said.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has activated its Gulf Region Hurricane Response Team and is monitoring operators’ activity.

Based on data from offshore operator reports submitted as of 11:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday, personnel have been evacuated from a total of 10 production platforms and one non-dynamically positioned rig, representing approximately 1.33 percent of the 750 manned platforms and 9.09 percent of the 11 non-DP rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. A total of five DP rigs have also moved off location out of the storm’s path as a precaution.

The BSEE estimates that approximately 19.52 percent of the current oil production and 10.59 percent of the natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut-in.