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 homes without power.
It weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland, but was expected to regain hurricane strength as it barrels over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
More: forbes.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
MEXICO CITY - The United States has agreed with a request from Mexico to not prosecute undocumented Mexican migrants affected by Hurricane Katrina who recur to U.S. officials for help, President Vicente Fox said Friday.
"We have agreed with the government of the United States that those who were not documented at the time will not be subject to any pressure or persecution whatsoever," Fox said during a government event Friday afternoon.
"In this way, they can receive help from the American authorities, they can approach the authorities to point out what they've lost and, above all, to ask for support."
Mexico estimates
Katrina Could be in Gulf of Mexico by Saturday
Most of southeast Florida is under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Katrina moves closer to the state. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami have posted tropical storm warnings and a hurricane watch from Florida City just south of Miami north to Vero Beach.
Katrina has maximum sustained winds of 40-miles per hour, but the storm is expected to grow stronger and become a minimal hurricane before it comes ashore Friday morning.
Katrina is expected to emerge over the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday morning and could re-strengthen before making
GlobalSantaFe Updates Status of Gulf of Mexico Fleet
(NYSE: GSF) today reported that it has accounted for all five of its drilling rigs that were in the direct path of Hurricane Katrina. All personnel on the five rigs were safely evacuated prior to the storm's arrival.
GlobalSantaFe rigs in the path of Hurricane Katrina included the GSF Development Driller II and GSF High Island VIII, which showed no signs of damage during a preliminary aerial inspection. The GSF Celtic Sea and GSF Development Driller I were listing slightly, and crews and equipment are arriving on location
Hurricane Katrina enters the Gulf of Mexico
HURRICANE Katrina passed through southern Florida overnight Thursday and entered the Gulf of Mexico early Friday morning at a point north of and near Cape Sable, in the southwestern Florida peninsula, according to Official Note No. 12 from the Cuban Meteorological Institute’s Forecast Center.
Katrina, after weakening somewhat upon touching land, once again reached the category of hurricane; the storm now has sustained maximum winds of 120 kilometers per hour, with stronger gusts, and its central pressure has gone down to 987 hectoPascal, which is why is remains a Category 1 hurricane on the
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian natural-gas prices, which reached the highest in almost 30 months on Aug. 31, fell for the second day in three as U.S. Gulf of Mexico production shut by Hurricane Katrina started to return.
About 7.2 billion cubic feet of gas production was shuttered in the Gulf as of 12:30 p.m. New York time, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said. About 8.8 billion in production was cut immediately after Katrina hit.
``Some of the hurricane hype is starting to come off, although prices will probably remain strong.'' said Martin King, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital Corp.
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
Chevron evacuating Gulf of Mexico workers before Rita
Chevron Corp. said Monday it is evacuating oil rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico before Tropical Storm Rita hits, a move which could reduce oil production in the region.
based Chevron (NYSE:CVX) told Reuters that its evacuations were a normal procedure, similar to what it did before Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf.
Chevron didn't say how the evacuation will affect its oil or natural gas production.
Tropical Storm Rita was heading toward the Florida Keys and several weather models projected it would enter the Gulf and become a category one hurricane.
Reuters
Category 3 Hurricane Katrina Eyes Gulf Of Mexico Coast
New Orleans, Louisiana--Hurricane Katrina, is a Category 3 hurricane as predicted by Bayoubuzz meteorologist, Ed Roy. The storm is moving westward through the Southeastern Gulf of Mexico at a clip of 7 to 11 miles per hour, the Gulf Coast guessing game begins. The Katriana Eye at 8 a.m. EST was near latitude 24.4 North and Longitude 11 KM/Hr.
The slow moving storm has maximum sustained winds near 116 MPH and with higher gusts. A gradual turn toward the west-northwest is expected during the next 24 hours.
Hurricane forces
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
