From the Industry - 179 Gulf Platforms Still Evacuated, 59.3 % Production Shut-in

MMS: '179 Gulf Platforms Still Evacuated, 59.3% Oil Production Shut-in'
Minerals Management Service 9/25/2008
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=67132

MMS has recalculated the number of manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico since 23 manned platforms have been confirmed destroyed from Hurricane Ike. The new figure of 694 manned platforms was used to calculate today’s percentage of manned platforms evacuated. Based on data from offshore operator reports submitted as of 11:30 a.m. CDT today, personnel are evacuated from a total of 179 production platforms, equivalent to 25.8 % of the 694 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The total number of rigs currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico has been recalculated to allow for the number of rigs destroyed or severely damaged as a result of Hurricane Ike. The recalculated figure is 116 rigs. This number was used in calculating today's percentage of rigs evacuated. Personnel from 3 rigs are evacuated; this is equivalent to 2.6% of the 116 rigs currently operating in the Gulf.

From the operators' reports, it is estimated that approximately 59.3% of the oil production in the Gulf is shut-in. As of June 2008, estimated oil production from the Gulf of Mexico is 1.3 million barrels of oil per day. It is also estimated that approximately 56.4% of the natural gas production in the Gulf is shut-in. As of June 2008, estimated natural gas production from the Gulf of Mexico was 7.0 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Since that time, gas production from the Independence Hub facility has increased and current gas production from the Gulf is estimated at 7.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day.