Close to 30% of US Gulf of Mexico oil production halted due to storm

Almost 30 per cent of the crude oil and nearly 41 per cent of the natural gas in the US Gulf of Mexico remained shut on Saturday following Hurricane Francine, the US offshore energy regulator said.

Francine churned through prime oil and gas-producing areas in the US Gulf of Mexico and slammed into Louisiana with up to 100 miles per hour (161 kph) winds. The midweek storm toppled trees, flooded coastal areas, and knocked out power across four states. There were some 37,000 customers in Louisiana without power on Saturday.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimated the number of oil production and natural gas remaining offline as a result of Hurricane Francine to be in excess of 522,000 barrels of oil production and 755 million cubic feet of natural gas.

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BSEE put estimates of cumulative losses in offshore productions for this week due to Francine at 1.82 million barrels of crude oil and 4.12 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

The peak of 171 evacuated offshore platforms this week has decreased down to Saturday when 52 oil and gas platforms left unmanned by energy workers are reported, representing around 14 per cent of the total, according to the offshore regulator.

Chevron said that two of the company's platforms were running at lower rates because of a disruption to an onshore gas plant. The company said full production will be restored to the two- Jack/St. Malo and Big Foot - once the onshore disruption is corrected.

Chevron refused to name the operator of the gas plant.

The second-largest US oil producer said it was continuing to return workers and restore oil production at its Anchor and Tahiti platforms that were shut in ahead of hurricane Francine. Neither platform suffered significant damage, Chevron said in initial assessments.