MMS says 31% of U.S. Gulf oil production remains shut-in due to hurricane damage

Oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico continues to recover from damage caused by this year’s harsh hurricane season. Nearly 31 percent or 464,858 barrels of oil per day remained shut-in as of Dec. 8, and 24.4 percent or 2.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas was shut-in as of the same date, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

The cumulative shut-in oil production in the Gulf from Aug. 26 through Dec. 8 totaled 99.9 million barrels, or 18.2 percent of the roughly 547.5 million barrels of annual oil production. During the same period, the cumulative shut-in natural gas production totaled 516.9 billion cubic feet, or 14.1 percent of the approximately 3.65 trillion cubic feet annual gas production in the Gulf.

Additionally, evacuations equivalent to nearly 16 percent of the 819 manned platforms were not operating as of Dec. 8, while all of the 134 rigs in the Gulf were operating as of the same date, according to MMS.

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