Energy companies are evacuating much of the western Gulf of Mexico and hunkering down to bear the brunt of Hurricane Harvey along Corpus Christi’s refinery row.
There’s less evacuation than normally needed, however, in the face of a Gulf hurricane. Because of low oil prices and the emphasis on onshore US oil production, there are only 16 active drilling rigs in the US Gulf of Mexico – not counting ongoing production platforms and activities. In early 2000, there were 122 active rigs and 41 rigs in early 2010.
About 5 percent of Gulf oil platforms were evacuated by 11:30 a.m. Thursday and almost 10 percent of all Gulf oil production was temporarily cut off, the equivalent of 167,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. There are more than 700 manned platforms in the Gulf and at least 39 reported being evacuated.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Suann Guthrie said the company is reducing production and scaling back at its Hoover-Diana field in the deepwater Gulf. Exxon also is evacuating its Galveston 209 platform and temporarily ceasing oil production from its Hadrian South subsea system.
“With the safety of our workforce as our first priority, we are working transportation plans for the staged evacuation of personnel to shore,” Guthrie said. “We will evacuate personnel from those offshore facilities expected to be in the path of the storm.”
Royal Dutch Shell said it halted production and secured its massive Perdido platform in the Gulf.
“Shell is in the process of returning all personnel working on Perdido to shore,” Shell added. “We continue to monitor this weather system and assess for potential impacts to our other operations in the western Gulf of Mexico.”
Likewise, The Woodlands-based Anadarko Petroleum said it is removing nonessential personnel from four of its Gulf fields. “Although, there have been no impacts to production at this time associated with the weather, we are prepared to shut in our facilities and evacuate remaining personnel if necessary to ensure safety and protect the environment,” the company added.
The eye of the storm though is likely to make landfall closer to the Corpus Christi region, where there’s an assortment of refining and petrochemical facilities. One of the largest there is Valero Energy, which said Thursday it is preparing for the storm.
“Valero is currently monitoring Tropical Storm Harvey as our Gulf Coast operations work through hurricane preparedness protocol that include activities such as assessing refinery operations and potential storm impact, securing equipment, and ensuring we have adequate supplies available,” the company said. “We will continue to monitor the storm and make decisions about refinery operations, especially for our Corpus Christi and Three Rivers locations where the storm is currently projected to make landfall.”
This first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more click here.
Recommended for you
