Shell Shutting Some Offshore Output Due to Gulf Storm

By Dan Molinski

Royal Dutch Shell said Friday it was halting some of its offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico as another storm churns in the area, heading north toward a cluster of production platforms.

"Shell is monitoring Tropical Depression #22 for potential impacts to our assets and operations in the Gulf of Mexico," the company said. "As a precautionary measure, Shell is evacuating non-essential personnel from Perdido in the western Gulf of Mexico and has shut in production. All rigs are monitoring the weather and securing operations."

The move comes just days after Hurricane Sally swept through the Gulf, forcing Shell and other companies to partially halt production and temporarily evacuate workers for safety. In some cases, oil workers who evacuated due to Sally but have since returned to their offshore job sites may have to turn around and evacuate again.

"Production at Appomattox is ramping back up and is expected to resume operations as normal," Shell said earlier Thursday night. "All other platforms that had curtailed production have resumed normal production."

Tropical Depression #22 is likely to become a named tropical storm and possibly a hurricane over the next few days as it continues to move slowly over the western Gulf, the National Hurricane Center said Friday

Some 31% of total offshore oil production in the Gulf, or about 568,000 barrels a day, remains offline due to storms, the U.S. government's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Thursday. The U.S. produces a total of about 11 million barrels a day of crude oil.

Write to Dan Molinski at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2020 10:21 ET (14:21 GMT)

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