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 of these platforms. I think there’s 819 manned platforms and 140 or so manned rigs offshore that all need to be checked out. And so there’s a big run on transportation equipment and personnel to go out and check on all these facilities. And it’s just taking a long time.”
He says following previous hurricanes, the energy industry was quick to release reports on the damage their facilities sustained.
IHS Energy is an energy consulting company headquartered in Engelwood, Colorado.
One indication of how bad things may be is a photograph of a toppled Shell Oil platform, which produced 40,000 barrels of oil a day and about 150 million cubic feet of natural gas. Mr. Flanagan says multiply those losses by today’s commodity prices and you get an idea of how much money Shell is losing on just that one rig.
The regional manager of IHS Energy’s Frontier Gulf of Mexico Group points out that not all the damage to energy facilities occurred offshore.
“The biggest story seems to be what’s happened to the onshore infrastructure,” he explained. “Natural gas processing plants are flooded. Refineries are flooded. So, even if you could turn on all the different production platforms we have in the Gulf of Mexico, you wouldn’t be able to do so because the onshore infrastructure still needs to be repaired.”
What’s more, Mr. Flanagan says Hurricane Katrina has also affected oil and gas industry workers. So, it’s unclear how many are available to help with repairs. “As far as I’ve been in this business, this is the worst I’ve seen things,” he added.
The Bush Administration is trying to ease soaring gas and oil prices by tapping into the strategic oil reserves. However, Mr. Flanagan is not sure how quickly and to what extent this will have an effect.
“It’s a reserve of oil that is held in a salt dome in Louisiana. But it’s been filled up over the course of years and it could have upwards of 700 or 800 million barrels of oil in it. I’m not sure how quickly it can be withdrawn and I don’t know how quickly it can pump it out, but I think it is a major deposit that the government can go to,” he noted.
Mr. Flanagan says Hurricane Katrina has shown just how dependent the United States is on oil and gas and the importance of supplies in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf makes up about 25 percent of oil and gas production in the country, not counting Alaska.
“Another thing the country will have to come to grips with is trying to decide whether or not it’s possible to develop other reserves in other parts of the Gulf of Mexico,” said Mr. Flanagan. “The whole east of the Gulf of Mexico has basically been off-line from leasing for quite a long time. And just now people are beginning to wonder if it’s time to actually go out there and at least do an assessment of what might be available for drilling.”
Such moves, however, could bring angry reaction from environmentalists and others, who say they fear possible oil spills.
Source: VOA News
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
Oil Falls as Hurricane Concern Eases, Mexico May Resume Output
Crude oil declined for a fourth day in five as concern eased that Hurricane Emily will disrupt U.S. supplies and on expectations that Mexico will resume output from its biggest fields tomorrow.
Emily weakened to Category 1 and is headed for an area on Mexico's northeast coast where there are no oil platforms. Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly, said yesterday it expects production in the Campeche Sound will resume tomorrow after a three-day shutdown of 2.95 million barrels a day, or 86 percent of the country's output.
``I believe
BHP Billiton says Gulf of Mexico production remains shut
Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) said Wednesday that oil production at its Gulf of Mexico rigs is still shut after hurricane Katrina caused devastation in the area.
There is little damage to BHP's facilities, but the disruption at refineries means production will be stopped for much longer than previously thought, a BHP spokeswoman said.
She said the company doesn't know how long.
Last week, BHP said it expected oil production to be shut off for a couple of days, after it evacuated crews and moved its rigs in preparation for the hurricane.
Gulf of Mexico oil ops in 'relatively good shape' after Rita - Texas governor
Oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and the hub of refineries along the southern coast of the US appear to have survived Hurricane Rita without major damage, the governor of Texas said on Sunday.
'The refineries appear to be in relatively good shape,' Governor Rick Perry told Fox News Sunday.
One pipeline was ruptured 'but it's being repaired as we speak,' Perry said.
While oil companies said it would take some time to figure out the full effect of the storm, Perry expressed cautious optimism
UPDATE 2-Mexico's Pemex resumes full production after Emily
Mexico resumed its full production of crude oil on Friday by bringing its wells in the Gulf of Mexico back on tap after they were closed by a powerful hurricane, state oil monopoly Pemex said.
Pemex slashed output and halted exports as Hurricane Emily pounded the Yucatan Peninsula and then moved into the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week.
The storm shut down 2.95 million barrels of day of crude oil as well as 1.87 million bpd of exports, the bulk of them to the United States.
Pemex typically produces about 3.4 million bpd of crude,
Newfield Reports on Resumption of Gulf of Mexico Production Following '05 Storms
Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX - News) today provided a progress report on the resumption of its production in the Gulf of Mexico following 2005 storms and hurricanes. Newfield estimates that the storms will result in the deferral of approximately 22 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of anticipated 2005 production. As a result, Newfield now expects that full-year 2005 production will total approximately 242 Bcfe.
David A. Trice, Newfield Chairman, President and CEO, commented: "Recovery from Hurricane Rita has been much slower than we originally projected with most of the
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
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
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.
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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
