Gulf oil slow to return post-Isaac

09 11, 2012 by UPI

The U.S. government said nearly 8 percent of the daily oil production and around 6 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut-in.

Energy companies in the Gulf of Mexico and along the southern U.S. coast shuttered facilities ahead of Hurricane Isaac, which struck the region as a Category 1 storm in late August.

The U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said personnel are yet to return to two of the 596 manned production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. One rig of 76 remains unmanned.

The BSEE estimates that 7.98 percent, or around 110,000 barrels of oil per day, of the usual daily oil production is shut-in. In terms of natural gas, about 6.11 percent, or 274 million cubic feet, of the daily natural gas production is idled.

"The remaining shut-in oil and gas production has been slow to return due to damage at onshore processing facilities," the agency stated.

The BSEE said oil and natural gas operators with installations in the region have submitted reports of mainly minor damage from Isaac.

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