Gulf oil, natural gas platforms shut in production as Tropical Storm Don targets Texas
By Ben DuBose
Online Editor
Several oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico began shutting in production and evacuating platforms on Thursday as Tropical Storm Don moves toward the lower Texas coast.
Shell said it was continuing evacuations from its extreme southwest Gulf operations, including a complete evacuation and shut in of its 100,000 bpd Perdido Spar platform.
Shell noted that it had already brought in 116 personnel, and expected that figure to rise to 195 by the end of Thursday.
The company said it would continue to monitor the system closely and respond as necessary to further developments.
Meanwhile, Anadarko Petroleum shut in production from six platforms in the western Gulf and evacuated all personnel (around 185 workers).
Those platforms have a capacity to produce around 310,000 bpd of oil and 1.1 billion cubic feet/day of natural gas, according to news agency Reuters.
Likewise, BP said it would shut in its Atlantis platform in the western Gulf, which can produce up to 200,000 bpd of oil.
ExxonMobil did not specify specific platforms that were in danger, but said it was conducting some evacuations while shutting in about 8,000 bpd of oil capacity and 50 million cubic feet/day of natural gas.
Overall, the Gulf of Mexico accounts for 29% of US oil production and 13% of natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
As of the 10:00 a.m. Central time update from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Don packed winds of 45 miles/hour while moving to the northwest at 14 miles/hour. Wind speeds are projected to increase in intensity throughout the day.
Don is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday somewhere in the vicinity of Corpus Christi, Texas, possibly as a Category 1 hurricane (winds of 74-95 miles/hour).
Three major refineries are located in the region, including the 290,078 bpd Flint Hills Resources facility, a 163,000 bpd unit from Citgo and a 142,000 bpd refinery from Valero.
Officials with those companies said they were closely monitoring forecasts and implementing initial safety procedures.
However, production rates were not reported to be cut as of midday Thursday.
Stay tuned to HydrocarbonProcessing.com and follow us on Twitter for further industry storm updates.
Comments