Exxon Mobil, BP pull staff from Gulf ahead of Hurricane Michael
HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP and Exxon Mobil on Monday began evacuating personnel from U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production platforms as forecasters predicted Hurricane Michael would become a major hurricane this week.
The National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm on Monday and forecast it would become at least a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as its moved through the center of the Gulf of Mexico. Category 3 storms have sustained winds of 111 to 129 miles (178 to 208 km) per hour.
Michael was tracking through the Gulf’s energy-producing area and was expected to make landfall near the Florida Panhandle. The storm’s current track takes it away from refinery-heavy areas of the central and western Gulf Coast.
BP said it has shut in production at four production productions and drilling rigs are taking steps to evade the storm. The platforms evacuating personnel and shutting in production include its Atlantis, Mad Dog, Ka Kika
Exxon also removed staff from its Lena production
Royal Dutch Shell was monitoring the storm but has not made any changes to its
Offshore production in the Gulf accounts for 17 percent of total U.S. crude oil output, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas production from Gulf offshore operations provides 5 percent of the U.S. total.
Over 45 percent of U.S. refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast, along with 51 percent of the nation’s natural gas processing plant capacity, the EIA said.
Production platforms are permanently attached to the sea floor and cannot be moved. Rigs, used for exploration, can be towed out of harm’s way during a storm.
Reporting by Gary McWilliams; editing by Jonathan Oatis
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