BP, Shell and Chevron resume Gulf output after Hurricane Isaias

what happened

According to Seeking Alpha, U.S. oil and gas producers began restoring output in the Gulf on Sunday after Hurricane Isaias forced a shutdown last week. The storm made landfall in Florida’s panhandle late last Friday night.

BP is restarting production at its Na Kika and Thunder Horse platforms and bringing non-essential staff back to Argos, Atlantis and Mad Dog. Shell is redeploying personnel offshore and said its Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito and Appomattox Gulf facilities suffered no storm damage. Chevron is returning workers and restoring full production after temporarily cutting output at five facilities. Its Pascagoula, Mississippi, plant remained operational and also reported no storm-related damage.

Ahead of the hurricane, U.S. companies had taken about 1.3M bbl/day offline, equal to 63% of total Gulf production. Gulf Coast refineries were operating at 95% of total capacity, leaving no spare capacity to offset the lost supply. Seeking Alpha said that concern now appears not to have materialized.

why it matters

For oil markets, the restart reduces concern over a prolonged supply disruption. The companies are bringing staff back and restoring production, while no damage has been reported at the cited offshore facilities.

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