The percentage of daily oil production shut-in because of Hurricane Isaac dropped from a high of about 95% on Aug. 31 to less than 50% on Sept. 5, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
Offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) continue returning to normal after last week’s tropical weather produced a hurricane that shut-in approximately 95% of daily oil production and 72% of daily natural gas production.
However, by Sept. 5, nearly a week after Category 1 Hurricane Isaac made landfall Aug. 28 in southeast Louisiana, the percentages had made a significant reversal. Daily oil production shut-in dropped to about 49%, or 680,749 b/d, while shut-in gas production dropped to about 26%, or 1,157 MMcf/d, according to figures from the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which has been gathering storm-related information from offshore oil and gas operators.
Data submitted by the companies also revealed that 18 of the GoM’s 596 manned production platforms remained evacuated. Only one rig out of the 76 operating rigs in the GoM, remained vacated by personnel, BSEE reported.
“Offshore oil and gas facilities are currently being inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back on line immediately. Facilities sustaining damage may take longer to bring back online.”
Anadarko, which has 10 hub facilities in about 3 million gross acres in the GoM, said production continues to ramp up at its Constitution, Marco Polo, Gunnison, and Independence Hub platforms in the eastern and central GoM. “We expect to re-start production at Neptune as third-party-operated infrastructure permits,” a news release said.
BP continued to restaff its offshore facilities, working to resume normal operations at all BP-operated production platforms and drilling rigs in the GoM, a spokesman said.
Stone Energy reported personnel for its GoM facilities, which had very minor damage, have returned. The hurricane caused the company’s daily production to plummet, like others, from 35,000 boe. However, by Sept. 3, the number was up to about 18,000 boe/d with the rest of production returning online as third-party facilities allow. However, the Amberjack and Pompano fields remained shut-in, with production expected to restart in the next few days, the company said.
Other companies reporting no significant damage as a result of Hurricane Isaac included Hercules Offshore, McMoRan Exploration, Gulfport Energy, and Williams and Williams Partners LP. Staff also has returned to these companies’ facilities.
However, other companies’ doors remain closed with operations halted.
Among those is Phillips 66’s Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, La., which lost power during the storm and experienced flooding. On Sept. 5, the company reported the 247,000 b/d refinery had lost electricity from its third-party power provider. Officials there remained hopeful that electricity would be restored later that day, though the outage would slow the refinery’s restart.
The hurricane made landfall about 38 miles south/southeast of Swift Energy’s Lake Washington field in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish. After assessing the property along with its Bay de Chene field in Jefferson and Lafourche parishes, the company reported minimal damage. After assessments of electrical systems, instrumentation, integrity of flow lines, substructure of platforms, and navigation hazards were conducted by engineering teams, Swift said it could take about one week to restore its South Louisiana production operations.
Contact the author, Velda Addison, at vaddison@hartenergy.com.
