U.S. Says 27% of Gulf Oil Output, 10% of Gas Idle After Bonnie's Exit

About 27 percent of crude-oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and 10 percent of natural-gas output is still idle because of Tropical Storm Bonnie, the U.S. government reported.

Oil and gas producers report that one rig and three production platforms remain evacuated, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said today in a statement on its website. About 428,000 barrels of daily oil production are shut-in, along with 618 million cubic feet of gas.

“Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are reboarding platforms and rigs and restoring production following Tropical Storm Bonnie,” said the bureau, which is part of the U.S. Interior Department.

Yesterday, about 47 percent of oil and 22 percent of gas production in the Gulf was reported shut-in. Bonnie, the second tropical storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, dissipated July 24, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The Gulf produced 1.6 million barrels of oil and 6.4 billion cubic feet of gas a day in March, according to the bureau. The report on shut-in production is based on responses from 26 companies as of 12:30 p.m. New York time.

The Gulf of Mexico hosts about 31 percent of U.S. oil output and about 10 percent of gas production, according to the Energy Department.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Lomax in Washington at slomax@bloomberg.net.

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email