E&P companies continue to gauge Gulf offshore infrastructure post-Hurricane Ida

Oil and natural gas exploration-and-production companies continued Aug. 31 to assess potential damage to offshore US Gulf of Mexico platforms and other offshore infrastructure from Hurricane Ida's devastating winds and torrential rains two days after the storm slammed into the Louisiana coast.

But the bulk of US Gulf production remained offline Aug. 31, since for many companies it may take time to assess damages from Ida, which made landfall southwest of New Orleans two days earlier as a Category 4 storm, packing winds of 150 miles/hour and even higher gusts.

On Aug. 31, 1.70 million b/d of the Gulf's crude oil production, or just under 94% of the region's roughly 1.8 million b/d, remained shut-in, compared with 94.6% Aug. 30, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in its daily update.

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The same day, 2.1 Bcf/d of natural gas output, or about 94.5% was shut-in, a bit more than the 93.6% the previous day. The Gulf's pre-storm gas output was about 2.2 Bcf/d.

In all, 278 platforms remained evacuated in the US Gulf Aug. 31, or just under 50% of the region's total, BSEE said, compared with 288 platforms the day before.

BSEE will likely provide another update Sept. 1.

While majors began reporting early assessments of offshore installations a day earlier, smaller Gulf producers were able to perform initial evaluations Aug. 31.

Australia's BHP Billiton, a growing US Gulf player, was evaluating potential impacts at its US Gulf-operated Shenzi platform, company spokeswoman Judy Dane said.

'Conclusive' news on Shenzi soon: BHP

"We ... expect to have a more conclusive understanding by end-of-day [Sept. 1]," Dane said.

Kosmos Energy is assessing its subsea production facilities and connected host platforms and export pipeline systems, company spokesman Thomas Golembeski said, adding, "at this point, it's too early to give an estimated timeline for restoring production."

And, Murphy Oil is "assessing our facilities, re-manning our platforms and in the early stages of restoring our production," spokeswoman Kelly Whitley said.

"Despite Ida's strength and path cutting through the central Gulf, production recovery might not extend the full two-week period that can result from a hurricane of this caliber," said S&P Global Platts Analytics in a Spotlight report late Aug. 30. "Given that offshore operators have already managed to kick off damage assessments, US Gulf output recovery could begin within a few days and return to more normal levels by the weekend or early next week."

The pace of production recovery depends on how fast operators can assess facilities, which, in turn, depends on weather and travel conditions, it added.

Stones field back online

In addition, Shell said Aug. 31 its Stones field is back online and producing into the floating production storage and offloading vessel named Turritella, which has also resumed operations.

But "our Perdido asset in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico remained online throughout Hurricane Ida," Shell said in a statement because Perdido is southwest of Ida's path.

"All other assets remain shut-in and fully evacuated at this time," the company said.

A Shell flyover Aug. 30 for an initial assessment of its numerous assets in the path of the storm confirmed its Mars, Olympus, and Ursa platforms are "all intact and on location." The day before — and hours after Ida made landfall Aug. 29 — a US Coast Guard flyover had found "visual confirmation" the platforms remained on location.

"We are still assessing the full results of [our] flyover and are also working to conduct assessments of land-based infrastructure critical to the safe resumption of production," Shell said late Aug. 30.

Shell, however, has several other US Gulf platforms offshore Louisiana, including Auger, Enchilada/Salsa, and Appomattox. Those assets were also taken offline as Ida whipped through the US Gulf in the days prior to landing ashore.

Chevron said production remains shut-in at its operated US Gulf of Mexico platforms. The Fourchon terminal and Empire terminal and their related pipeline systems also remain shut-in.

"We continue to conduct post-storm assessments at our onshore and offshore facilities," Chevron said Aug. 31.

While Chevron did not specifically state which platforms were shut-in, some operated production platforms situated in or near Ida's path include Tahiti, Jack/St Malo, and Big Foot.

'No damage' to Hoover

In addition, ExxonMobil said there was "no damage" to its Hoover platform where the company had evacuated crews as Ida approached the Louisiana coast over the weekend.

"We are returning crews to the platform, and have begun the process of resuming normal operations," the company said late Aug. 30

BP also late Aug. 30 said it had mobilized to assess potential damage to the company's operated US Gulf facilities and supporting infrastructure.

Company employees will remain evacuated and production shut-in "until we have confirmation that our platforms are able to operate safely, and pipeline companies have confirmed the operability of offshore pipelines," BP said in a statement.

"We are also confirming that our shore-based transportation and receiving systems are working, and will ensure we receive regulatory approvals required prior to start-up," BP said. "At this time, we cannot predict how long this process will take."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected an above-normal hurricane season, with up to 21 named storms this year, including as many as 10 hurricanes.

That is considerably less than the historic 2020 season, which had 31 named storms, including 14 hurricanes. A normal hurricane season in the Atlantic yields about 10 named storms and up to six hurricanes.