More than 30% of Gulf oil production remains shut in after Delta

New York — More than 30% Gulf of Mexico crude production was still offline due to Hurricane Delta as of midday Oct. 14, US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement data showed.

Around 568,505 b/d of crude production and 489.32 MMcf/d of gas production remained shut-in Oct. 14, representing 30.73% and 17.95% of total Gulf of Mexico output, respectively, a BSEE survey of 33 companies showed.

At peak on Oct. 10, the storm shut in 1.697 million b/d of crude and 1.692 MMcf/d of gas production, respectively, representing 91.72% and 62.43% of total Gulf output.

Delta was a strong Category 2 hurricane when it made landfall on Oct. 9 in the same region the more dangerous Hurricane Laura did in late August, but Delta forged a more treacherous path offshore through the heart of deepwater oil and gas activities.

Delta surpassed Laura as the most significant storm of the season in terms of supply disruption, and shut in the highest percentage of Gulf crude output since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The offshore Gulf of Mexico is home to roughly 1.9 million b/d of crude production capacity, according to the US Energy Information Administration. S&P Global Platts Analytics projected it could take nearly two weeks to fully restore production.