On Tuesday, energy firms secured offshore production platforms and evacuated workers in the US Gulf of Mexico on account of the strengthening the upcoming Hurricane Delta.
The hurricane is now in a Category 4 storm, the dangerous category with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kph). It is estimated to scrape across Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and re-enter the Gulf of Mexico.
According to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), Delta has prompted the shutdown of 29.2% of offshore crude oil production and 8.6% of the region’s natural gas output in the US Gulf of Mexico by midday on Tuesday.
In a normal term, the region produces 17% of the country’s total crude output and 5% of total dry natural gas production.
Yesterday, Royal Dutch Shell Plc. said that it has evacuated the nonessential workers from all nine of its offshore Gulf of Mexico operations and preparing to shut output. BP PLc. and Chevron Corp. will cut output and evacuate workers, Equinor ASA and BHP Group Ltd. shut in output and evacuated workers, while W& T Offshore was still in preparation to shut-in production while also evacuating staff.
Reacting to the development, Tuesday oil prices jumped by more than 2%.
