Offshore oil and hurricanes: Deeper may mean riskier

As oil companies working in the Gulf of Mexico prepare for an active hurricane season, experts say more drilling in deeper waters farther out to sea has made the United States more vulnerable to energy disruptions.

Forecasters have predicted that as many as 17 named storms, five of which could be major hurricanes, will form this season in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the gulf. The season starts June 1 and runs through November 30.
Companies have shored up offshore rigs with additional mooring lines and higher decks and added sophisticated equipment to monitor operations during storms and immediately afterward.

But experts say the quest for oil and natural gas in deeper waters has put more drilling rigs, producing platforms and pipelines in the path of storms intensified by the warm “loop current” in the middle of the Gulf.

Reuters