Gulf production picking up after storms

Gulf of Mexico production shut-ins due to major hurricanes this year are making significant recovery headway against what no doubt will go down as one of the most disruptive events in Gulf history.

More than three months after Gulf operators began evacuating offshore production platforms and drilling rigs ahead of the first menacing storm, Katrina, 36.5 percent or 547,074 barrels per day of oil remained shut-in as of Dec. 1, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

Additionally, MMS reported that only 29.6 percent or 2.95 billion cubic feet of daily natural gas production was shut-in as of Dec. 1.

At one point, nearly all Gulf production was shut-in because of Katrina and Rita, which ripped through the Gulf back-to-back as category four and five hurricanes.

The cumulative shut-in oil production from Aug. 26 through Dec. 1 totaled 96.4 million barrels, or 17.6 percent of about 547.5 million barrels in annual oil production.

During the same period, the cumulative shut-in natural gas production totaled 498.3 billion cubic feet, or 13.7 per cent of about 3.65 trillion cubic feet of yearly gas production.

In addition, MMS reported that only 16.1 percent of the 819 manned production platforms in the Gulf remained evacuated as of Dec. 1, and that less than 1 percent of the 134 drilling rigs in the Gulf were unmanned.

—Ray Tyson