HOUSTON (Reuters) – Nearly a fifth of output and 28% of production in federal waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico remains offline in the wake of Hurricane Francine, the U.S. offshore energy regulator said on Sunday.
Francine marched through key offshore oil and natural gas producing areas and struck Louisiana on Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane. The storm toppled trees, flooded coastal areas and knocked out power in four southern states.
Energy producers had 338,690 barrels of oil production per day and nearly 515 million cubic feet of natural gas offline in Gulf waters on Sunday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimated based on producer reports.
Cumulative offshore production losses from Francine total 2.16 million barrels of crude oil and 4.635 billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a Reuters tally based on daily BSEE estimates.
Another 37 oil and gas platforms had been evacuated as of Sunday, about 10% of the total in the Gulf of Mexico, compared with 171 offshore platforms evacuated during the peak last week, the offshore regulator said, citing reports from producers.
