Hurricane Ida, which erupted in Louisiana in late August, has so far caused a loss of oil supplies of 30 million barrels, causing the first drop in global oil supply in five months and pushing global inventories sharply, the International Energy Agency (IEA)) said Tuesday.
Initially, Hurricane Ida closed up 1.74 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil production, or 95.65 percent of the total crude oil pumped into the U.S. Gulf. On the day the hurricane made landfall, a total of 288 production platforms were evacuated in the Gulf of Mexico. This was more than half of the manned gulf platforms.
Due to the severity of the storm and the damage identified on some offshore platforms and facilities, crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has slowly resumed.
Two weeks after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana on Aug. 29, a total of 43.60 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil production, or 793,522 bpd, was still closed on Sept. 13, according to data from the Office of Environmental Safety and Enforcement (BSEE).
“Unexpected interruptions during August forced a decline in supply for the first time in five months and extended the sharp decline in world oil stocks at the end of August, leaving out 1.7 mb / d offline, ”the IEA said in its September oil market report released today.
The impact of Hurricane Ida “continues to cause problems in the U.S. and global markets,” the agency said.
“Marine facilities and refineries have been slow to restart due to the severity of the storm, which has forced the massive capture of crude oil and product stocks in key markets. The biggest impact on supply is will see in September, with an estimated total supply loss of around 30 mb, ”the IEA noted.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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