Energy companies and port operators along the U.S. Gulf Coast began re-operating on Wednesday September 5, after Tropical Storm Gordon shut down over 9% of the region’s oil and gas production.
Gordon made landfall near the Alabama-Mississippi border, but never turned into a hurricane, something that helped production and refining operations continue in the Gulf and along the Louisiana coast, Reuters reported.
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Now, in New Orleans, pilots began moving cargo vessels through the Mississippi River after the storm passed, while the lock connecting the Mississippi River to the intracoastal waterway has opened as well.
As a result of the storm, company shut-ins lopped 315,992 barrels of oil and nearly 500 million cubic feet of natural gas from Gulf output in the last two days,the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement informed. It also added that 9.4% of oil production and 10.4% of natural gas output was paused by the storm’s path.
In addition, workers were evacuated from 48 production platforms. Specifically, companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Talos Energy and Anadarko Petroleum evacuated offshore platforms before the storm.
Two of these companies, Chevron and Anadarko are starting their operations again. Chevron started to restore production at its Petronius platform, while Anadarko plans to begin moving workers back to two offshore sites and will restart production soon.
Offshore oil production is responsible for 17% of total U.S. oil production and 5% of its natural gas production.
