More than 75% of offshore crude oil and natural gas output in the US Gulf of Mexico remained shut on Wednesday, ten days after the category 4 Hurricane Ida slammed the region. Data from the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) showed some 1.4 million bpd of oil production and more than 1.72 Bcfd of gas output in the US Gulf of Mexico were still offline yesterday. Crews have not returned to more than 70 platforms of the 288 evacuated ahead of the storm.
Occidental Petroleum said seven of its ten platforms had not restarted after Ida. The company said damages to onshore processing plants and offshore oil and gas transfer facilities had delayed restart activities. Meanwhile, Shell said that it had yet to complete damage assessments at a production hub that brings oil and gas from three fields.
Some inland refineries have begun restarting their units as they regained access to power and utility supplies. Industry sources said Exxon expected to complete restarting its 520,000 bpd Baton Rouge refinery this week. However, these refineries are expected to struggle to return to full operations quickly, which has contributed to a shortage of fuel in Louisiana. The fuel shortage has hindered companies’ ability in redeploying offshore workers by helicopters.
