Ellen: That storm sure sounds like a bad one.
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MMS says storm shuts in 70pct Gulf oil, gas output
NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) said on Monday that it estimated about 70 percent of oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico had been shut in due to Hurricane Georges, which was crawling along the Gulf coast with hundred mile per hour winds, dumping heavy rains.
''There are a total of 3,800 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico...with average production of 1.1 million barrels per day of oil and 13 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas. We estimate that about 70 percent of that production is shut in right now,'' said A.B. Wade, a spokesman for the MMS, a section of the Department of the Interior.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana said that a freighter ship remained adrift in the path of the storm, a factor which had led the MMS to call for rigs and pipelines to shut down in the area to avoid any environmental disaster.
The 490-foot unloaded freighter, the Golden Star with a 17-man crew, broke from its tow on Sunday night and could not get anchored.
''We are at this time uncertain of their position. We dispatched a vessel to get in behind the storm to attempt to locate and render any assistance...but as of now it has zero control and is essentially a dead ship,'' said petty officer James Dillard of the Coast Guard.
He said the Golden Star is moving in a southeasterly direciton, away from highest concentration of oil rigs and pipelines. However, as a precaution the MMS asked companies to shut in all rigs and pipelines in the path of the storm.
The MMS did not have any indication how long production might keep oil production down and shipping restricted. However, U.S. oil inventories have over the past month dropped by around 27 million barrels to 317 million barrels, in large measure because of disruptions due to previous, less severe storms. |
