Offshore oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico continues to ramp up after Hurricane Nate forced the evacuation of more than 300 platforms through Oct. 7.

In a report released Oct. 13, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimated that a little more than 0.2 Bcf/d of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico is still shut-in, down from a peak of 2.5 Bcf/d reported offline Oct. 8. The amount of production currently idled is equal to a little over 7% of the region's gas-producing capacity.

In addition, the BSEE estimates that slightly more than 220,000 barrels of oil per day, or about 12.6% of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, remains offline. The amount of oil production shut in for the storm peaked Oct. 8 at 1.62 million barrels per day.

Personnel remain evacuated from a total of 13 production platforms, down from a peak of more than 300 on Oct. 7. The current evacuations represent less than 2% of the 737 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Gulf of Mexico federal offshore region accounts for about 5% of total U.S. dry gas production and about 17% of total U.S. crude oil production. The Gulf Coast also accounts for more than 45% of total U.S. petroleum refining capacity and 51% of total U.S. natural gas processing plant capacity.

Hurricane Nate made landfall over Mississippi late Oct. 7 as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking offline more than 111,000 electric customers and two refineries across the Gulf Coast region by Oct. 8.