Oil and gas operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico began returning to normal today, but work in Mexico's chief offshore oil producing area could be suspended for the rest of the week because of Hurricane Dean.
Among those companies bringing work back online in the U.S. Gulf were Shell Oil and contract drillers Noble Corp., Transocean and Pride International.
Shell said it expected to continue redeploying workers the rest of the week and was beginning to restore production of 30,000 barrels per day of oil and 70 million cubic feet of natural gas per day that were halted as the storm moved toward the Gulf last week. Noble began restaffing two semi-submersible rigs today and planned to begin returning workers to four additional semi-submersible rigs on Wednesday and Thursday, said Mark Burns, head of the company's U.S. Gulf of Mexico division.
Pride began redeploying workers, but was still in a "holding pattern" with respect to when its rigs would return to normal operation, said Christie Kaluza, a company spokeswoman. The company was still monitoring the storm for potential impact, she said.
Transocean, the world's largest offshore driller, also began returning workers to offshore rigs today and hoped to return the units to full operation as early as tonight, company spokesman Guy Cantwell said.
The moves came as it became clear that Hurricane Dean posed little threat to oil and gas operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Yet Mexico's energy industry was still bracing for the worst as Dean inched closer to the heart of its energy production in the Bay of Campeche.
Over the weekend, Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex began evacuating more than 13,000 workers and sealing up 407 oil and natural gas wells in preparation for the storm.
As a result of those actions, Mexico will lose out on production of about 2.6 million barrels of crude oil daily until Friday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said today, according to a report by Bloomberg.
"This has an economic impact," Calderon said at news conference after a two-day summit with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Montebello, Quebec.
Among those companies bringing work back online in the U.S. Gulf were Shell Oil and contract drillers Noble Corp., Transocean and Pride International.
Shell said it expected to continue redeploying workers the rest of the week and was beginning to restore production of 30,000 barrels per day of oil and 70 million cubic feet of natural gas per day that were halted as the storm moved toward the Gulf last week. Noble began restaffing two semi-submersible rigs today and planned to begin returning workers to four additional semi-submersible rigs on Wednesday and Thursday, said Mark Burns, head of the company's U.S. Gulf of Mexico division.
Pride began redeploying workers, but was still in a "holding pattern" with respect to when its rigs would return to normal operation, said Christie Kaluza, a company spokeswoman. The company was still monitoring the storm for potential impact, she said.
Transocean, the world's largest offshore driller, also began returning workers to offshore rigs today and hoped to return the units to full operation as early as tonight, company spokesman Guy Cantwell said.
The moves came as it became clear that Hurricane Dean posed little threat to oil and gas operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Yet Mexico's energy industry was still bracing for the worst as Dean inched closer to the heart of its energy production in the Bay of Campeche.Over the weekend, Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex began evacuating more than 13,000 workers and sealing up 407 oil and natural gas wells in preparation for the storm.
As a result of those actions, Mexico will lose out on production of about 2.6 million barrels of crude oil daily until Friday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said today, according to a report by Bloomberg.
"This has an economic impact," Calderon said at news conference after a two-day summit with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Montebello, Quebec.
Via: Chron
