The non-essential personnel, who were evacuated from the Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead the Tropical Storm Barry, are now returning to their platforms as flights and normal crew-change activities are resuming, Shell informed.
Oil majors, such as Chevron, BP, BHP, Shell and Anadarko, had to evacuate or make staffing adjustments on fixed platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, as the hurricane affected that area.
Chevron halted operations on five of its platforms in the Gulf and evacuated all associated personnel. Similarly, Shell halted productions and evacuated ‘non-essential’ staff at seven platforms. Additionally, BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. also began removing offshore personnel.
The Auger, Salsa and Enchilada assets in the Gulf of Mexico remain shut in and production in the Mars Corridor remains curtailed as a result of this storm,
…oil major Shell informed in its latest update on 16 July.
Full production from the assets will resume when it is safe to do so and the mid and downstream facilities can safely accept the oil and gas.
As of 16 July, personnel have been evacuated from a total of 171 production platforms, 25.56% of the 669 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) informed.
From operator reports, BSEE estimates that approximately 57.83% of the current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut-in, which equates to 1,092,920 barrels of oil per day.
It is also estimated that approximately 51.42% of the natural gas production, or 1,492.47 million cubic feet per day in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut-in.
Now that the storm has passed, facilities will be inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back on line immediately,
…said BSEE.
The BSEE Hurricane Response Team will continue to work with offshore operators and other state and federal agencies until operations return to normal and the storm is no longer impacting Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activities.
