BP, Shell say Gulf of Mexico ops still suspended
BP PLC and the Royal Dutch Shell said their operations at the Gulf of Mexico remained suspended even as initial inspection showed the offshore facilities sustained little damage from Hurricane Rita.
‘The (US Gulf) facilities as of Monday are still completely shut. The situation is still the same,’ said a BP spokeswoman.
BP continues to check the facilities and will not allow operations to resume until it is completely certain that it is safe to do so.
‘Initial assessment on Sunday via aerial overflights and small crews placed on several BP-operated deepwater production facilities indicate no major damage,’ said a BP statement.
‘However, recommencement of production will require full assessment of facilities, including key downstream infrastructure,’ it added.
BP is producing around 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the Gulf.
It has also yet to resume operations of the 470,000-barrel per day Texas City refinery, which was shut down on Sept 21 ahead of Rita.
More: forbes.com
Shell, BP evacuate Gulf of Mexico workers due to Hurricane Katrina
Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC have evacuated workers from their platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Katrina heads towards the area.
Shell, in a statement, said it will evacuate around 120 non-essential staff from the eastern part of its Gulf operations as a 'precaution'.
A BP spokesman said it will also evacuate a still undetermined number of workers.
Both companies said the move will not affect their Gulf production.
Katrina came ashore in Florida on Thursday, killing at least three people and leaving about 1.5 mln
Shell Swaps Stake in Gulf of Mexico Field
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday it will swap its 17 percent stake in the Gulf of Mexico's Tahiti field for Total SA's interests in natural gas assets in South Texas.
The Tahiti field, nearly 190 miles southwest of New Orleans, is operated by Chevron Corp. Total said first production is planned for mid-2008 from a floating production facility with daily capacity of 125,000 barrels of oil and 70 million cubic feet of natural gas.
Source: news.moneycentral.msn.com
Shell Oil said it has begun producing crude oil and natural gas from its Cougar and Enchilada units in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Today we began producing from our Cougar and Enchilada assets in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Yellowhammer Gas Processing Plant, in Mobile Bay, Alabama, is now operating," the company said in a statement.
Shell did not elaborate on production levels.
The Enchilada unit, about 300 kilometres southwest of New Orleans, has a peak daily production from its two platforms of 32,800 barrels of crude and 52 million cubic metres of gas, according to the Shell website.
Shell's Cougar platform is
Several oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico have resumed operations following Hurricane Katrina. However, an industry analyst says the full extent of damage to generating facilities is still unknown.
Jim Flanagan of IHS Energy says the story of Hurricane Katrina is still unfolding. He says there's a lack of published reports by energy companies about damage done to their offshore facilities.
"I think it has a lot to do with, number one, some of the on-shore staging areas have been pretty much devastated," said Mr. Flanagan. "So, it's difficult to get transportation to and from some
Damaged barge capsizes in Gulf of Mexico
The 441-foot barge left Houston late Thursday en route to Tampa, Florida, when it hit debris in the water about 100 miles east of Galveston.
That gouged a 30-by-six-foot hole in the starboard bow. The Coast Guard and other responding crews erected a containment boom around the vessel. But the Coast Guard says progressive flooding caused the barge to list onto its side and it capsized.
The Coast Guard says the barge isn't obstructing marine traffic. There's no estimate of how much of the 300-thousand gallons of oil has leaked from a damaged tank
Isla Aguada
Eleven kilometres beyond Carmen is the Rancho EIFfriix, with an interesting iguana (lagarto) hatchery. Highway 180 runs northeast along the Isla del Carmen and crosses the bridge to Isia Aguada (C Hotel Tarpon Tropical. D Motel La Cabana and Trailer Park at former boat landing just after the toll bridge. Full hook-up, hot showers, laundry facilities, quiet, US$12 for vehicle and two people), actually a narrow peninsula with more deserted shell-littered beaches on the Gulf shore. The road then undulates its way northeast through tiny fishing villages towards Campeche; there are many offshore oil rigs to be seen. At
Rita Becomes Hurricane as It Heads for Gulf of Mexico (Update1)
Rita strengthened into a hurricane as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to hit the coasts of Texas and Louisiana by this weekend.
Rita is forecast to pass the lower Florida Keys by midday and head into the warm waters of the Gulf, the National Hurricane Center said. It will gain power as it moves over the warm water, and will be a so-called Category 3 storm with winds of at least 111 mph when it reaches the Texas coastline by the weekend, center meteorologist Chris Sisko
Oil Production Down 78 Percent in Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. government says oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was nearly 80 percent below normal as of Saturday, five days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region.
A report from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said Katrina had cut oil production in the Gulf by about 1.18 million barrels of oil per day. It said more than 280 offshore oil-drilling rigs and platforms remained evacuated.
The figures represent a slight improvement from Friday, when oil production in the Gulf was nearly 90 percent below normal.
Katrina's disruption to Gulf-area oil production and refineries
Woodside chases Gulf of Mexico deal
Woodside Petroleum Ltd will expand its interests in the Gulf of Mexico, if a $US883 million ($A1.17 billion) takeover bid for US-based explorer and producer Energy Partners Ltd (EPL) is successful.
Woodside, through its wholly owned subsidiary ATS Inc, has offered $US23 cash per share for the 38.396 million of EPL shares on issue in the US.
Woodside said the acquisition would immediately increase its production and reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, with EPL producing around 28,000 barrels of oil a day on average.
More : theage.com.au
Gulf of Mexico acts as gale
Millions of people cowered in fear yesterday as Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with 225-kilometre-an-hour winds fuelled by the warm waters of the the Gulf of Mexico.
After stumbling across southern Florida as a weak category one storm late last week, Katrina wobbled into the Gulf and surged in strength over the next four days, becoming several times stronger before coming ashore yesterday as a category four hurricane with a storm track almost 640 km wide.
In terms of Gulf hurricanes, Katrina was almost the perfect storm.
"When
