Oil producers lock down offshore drilling as U.S. Gulf Coast braces for another hurricane

Royal Dutch Shell Plc began shutting some of its offshore drilling operations on Sunday in preparation for Tropical Storm Sally, forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall on Tuesday, the company said.

Shell’s offshore production was unchanged and all personnel remained on production platforms, company spokeswoman Cynthia Babski said.

Energy producers and communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast organized evacuations of residents and offshore workers on Sunday as they prepared for the second hurricane strike in less than a month.

However, one firm, BHP, does not plan to take workers from offshore facilities, a company spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Tropical Storm Sally strengthened as it crept up the warm waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, carrying winds that could reach 145 kilometres an hour ahead of landfall on Tuesday, forecasters said.

It was about 450 kilometres east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving at about 20 km/h as of midday Sunday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Its sustained winds had increased to 95 km/h, the NHC said.

Chevron Corp. and Murphy Oil Corp. on Saturday began evacuations from offshore production platforms, spokespeople said. Chevron’s Pascagoula, Miss., refinery was implementing storm preparedness procedures, the company said.

Other oil producers with drilling rigs and platforms in the area said they were monitoring the storm and prepared to take action as needed.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production provides about 17 per cent of U.S. crude oil and 5 per cent of U.S. natural gas production. As much as 1.5 million barrels per day of oil output was shut last month as Hurricane Laura tore through the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana on Saturday declared a state of emergency and the city of New Orleans ordered a Sunday evening evacuation for residents outside the city’s protective levees. Coastal Grand Isle also issued its third evacuation since July.