Shell is preparing to suspend oil and gas production at two of its platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, just days after resuming normal operations at other facilities that were previously shut down in anticipation of Hurricane Francine.

On Sunday, the supermajor announced that it is closely monitoring tropical Disturbance 35 for any potential effects on its assets and operations in the Gulf of Mexico. As a precaution, Shell is set to halt production at the Stones and Appomattox platforms and has initiated the evacuation of non-essential personnel from its facilities in the Mars Corridor.

“We are in the process of safely pausing some of our drilling operations and currently have no other impacts on our production across the Gulf of Mexico,” Shell stated in its initial update regarding Disturbance 35, which has a 50% likelihood of developing into a tropical storm, as reported by the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Earlier this month, Shell had already suspended production at its Perdido, Auger, and Enchilada/Salsa assets due to Hurricane Francine, which made landfall in Louisiana in early September. Additionally, at the Whale asset, which is not expected to commence operations until later this year, Shell has safely paused drilling activities. On September 11, when Francine struck the Louisiana coast, approximately 46% of manned production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated, affecting around 40% of crude oil production. Nearly half of the natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was also shut in. Following the passage of Francine, Shell increased production at Appomattox, Mars, Vito, Ursa, and Olympus after resolving downstream issues. Refineries that had to reduce operations in advance of Hurricane Francine’s landfall, including Shell’s Norco and Exxon’s Baton Rouge refineries, began to reopen on September 13. Shell’s Norco and Geismar facilities were in the process of returning to normal operations. During the storm, the Norco hydrocracker experienced a brief power outage but did not incur any damage. Shell opted to keep the Norco hydrocracker shut in as part of a routine, planned turnaround, which has now been moved up.

Shell Global – Exxon – NOAA

Author: Dr. Arsham Ghasemi