Ahead of Hurricane Rafael, Oil and Gas Producers Shut Down Operations

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas producers shut down operations and evacuated workers before Tropical Storm Rafael, and they feared production losses.

Oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico began shutting down operations and evacuating workers on Tuesday due to Hurricane Rafael, now a Category 1 storm. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned of rapid intensification within 24-36 hours, raising concerns about potential damage to offshore oil fields.

Studies made forecast that due to the slumps in atmospheric pressure and storm cyclones, oil and gas manufacturers may lose between 3.1 million barrels and 4.9 million barrels worth of oil in summer since storms will cause disruptions in activities. The increase in the prices of crude oil can be attributed to the impending danger posed by the storm, as U.S. oil future contracts rose back to $72.10 a barrel, up by one percent.

As a result of Hurricane Laura, Chevron, BP, Equinor, Shell and other oil firms took precautions. Chevron evacuated personnel from Gulf Oil platforms, while Equinor ceased operations at the Titan production unit. BP controlled access to offshore facilities and removed personnel from some platforms, including Argos and Atlantis.

Shell too suspended its drilling activities at Appomattox, Vito and Mars platforms and started the process of staff extraction. At the same time, Occidental Petroleum claimed that it was sufficiently ahead of the situation and would enact the contingency measures, if needs be.

Furthermore, the port of Freeport in Texas also restricted entry of incoming ships thereby indicating how adverse the effect of the storm was on their oil and gas activities. And again, the threats from this storm on even gas production and oil production operations remains a prevailing worry in the energy market.