Shell mulls action on ninth US Gulf of Mexico platform after shutting 8

Houston — Shell, which has shut all but one of its nine operated production platforms in the US Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Laura continued to race towards the northwest Gulf coastline, said late Aug. 24 it is mulling whether to take similar action on its sole remaining hub still online in the region.

The Perdido Hub, Shell's westernmost deepwater development in the US Gulf and the world's deepest production spar in 8,000 feet of water, appears to be west of Laura's projected path through the US Gulf.

Late Aug. 24, the storm was leaving the western tip of Cuba and was poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico. But about 48 hours before it is slated to make landfall late Aug. 26 or early Aug.27 around the Texas-Louisiana border, Laura's trajectory -- and specifically, how far west it could move -- remains uncertain.

"We continue to carefully monitor Laura's potential impacts to our ... production asset, Perdido, to determine if a safe shut-in of the facility will be necessary," Shell said in a statement late Aug. 24.

"All well operations have now been safely secured," the company added.

The US' National Hurricane Center currently predicts the storm will move in a northwest arc away from Cuba on Aug. 26, and then slowly curve to the right and head in a more northerly direction on Aug. 27 as it nears the US Gulf Coast. But the extent of its western shift, which could move its landfall to the Houston area or keep it around the Texas-Louisiana border 100 miles away, is still being modeled.

The question for Shell appears to be how far west -- and potentially nearer Perdido -- it may shift.

Also late Aug. 24, two other major US Gulf of Mexico operators, BP and Chevron, updated their operations in the region.

Chevron secures 2 terminals, shuts US Gulf pipeline systems

Chevron said its unit Chevron Pipe Line Company has secured the Empire and Fourchon terminals and shut its Gulf of Mexico pipeline systems. Chevron has also shuttered its US operated Gulf production.

BP said it finished evacuating all personnel from its operated platforms and assets and shut-in production. The company has four large operated platforms: Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Mad Dog and Na Kika.

BP also said it has evacuated its Houma Operations Learning Center in Louisiana.

As of midday Aug. 24, upstream operators had shut about 1.523 million b/d of oil from US Gulf platforms, or about 82% of the region's crude production, and 1.542 Bcf/d of gas or nearly 57% of the region's gas output, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's daily update.

That compares with 57.6% of oil and 44.6% of gas production that had been shut the previous day.

Roughly 281 platforms, or nearly 44% of the total number in the US Gulf, had been evacuated as of midday Aug. 24 in response to both Tropical Storm Laura and a weaker weather system, Tropical Depression Marco, which later the same day appeared to be whirling just offshore eastern Louisiana.

Also, six rigs, or 60% of the total number in the region, had been evacuated, the BSEE said.

The update reflects 37 companies' reports to the federal agency.

BSEE will provide daily updates to US Gulf production shut-ins as needed.