Hurricane Ida “extremely dangerous” drops more oil than Katrina

HOUSTON, Aug. 27 (Reuters) – U.S. oil and gas companies cut more than 1.6 million barrels of oil production on Friday as a major storm ended at 17% of oil fields of the nation’s oil production.

Production cuts ahead of Hurricane Ida outweigh those of the devastating 2005 Katrina

Ida entered Cuba on Friday after intensifying into a hurricane with winds of 130 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). It could become “an extremely dangerous major hurricane” and threaten “catastrophic wind damage” off the U.S. Gulf coast, the NHC said. L1N2PY0T2

The leading oil producer in the Gulf of Mexico, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), said it has suspended production of seven offshore platforms and two land-based processing plants. BP Plc (BP.L) stopped working on four platforms. They both said they were evacuating marine workers.

Chevron Corp. (CVX.N) said it would shut down production of its six Gulf of Mexico platforms and evacuate all workers. BHP (BHP.AX) and Equinor (EQNR.OL) removed workers from the marine facility, spokesmen said. Read more

Oil companies had shut down 59% of Gulf oil production and 49% of natural gas production, according to the U.S. offshore regulator. A total of 90 maritime facilities were evacuated and 11 drilling vessels came out of danger.

“This could be comparable to Hurricanes Laura and Harvey, in terms of intensity,” said Joe Bastardi, Weatherbell Analytics head of forecasting, referring to two hurricanes with winds of at least 130 mph (209 km / h). “At worst, it could reach a category 5,” he said.

During Katrina, a hurricane that wreaked havoc in Louisiana, supplies were reduced to 1.53 million barrels a day. Falls in production lasted for weeks due to damaged platforms and refineries. Last year’s Delta closed up to 1.69 million barrels a day.

Gasoline maker PBF Energy cut production at its Chalmette refinery, said people familiar with the matter, and Phillips 66 said it would release non-essential workers and stop production at the Alliance plant, Louisiana. Shell also stops fuel production at its Norco refinery and chemical manufacturing at the Geismar plant in Louisiana, he said.

Oil prices rose about 2% on Friday and saw their biggest weekly rise in more than a year. read more Some U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline prices gained for a fourth day, with a 600% rate of gasoline commodity as of Tuesday.

More than 45% of U.S. refining capacity is located along the Gulf Coast. Read more

The Louisiana governor asked residents to prepare for a major storm, President Joe Biden issued a federal declaration of emergency, and New Orleans and Coastal officials asked residents to move to higher ground. . Five storms hit land in Louisiana last year, causing billions of dollars in damage. Read more

Report by Sabrina Valle, Erwin Seba; edited by Dan Grebler and Howard Goller

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