Operators balance safety with production

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Earlier this month, a tropical depression in the Atlantic caught the attention of local residents who thought the storm might be the area’s first hurricane since Rita. But the storm, which at one point was predicted to cut across most oil fields in the Gulf, was particularly worrisome for oil companies.

Coming on the heals of Hurricane Humberto, which turned into a Category 1 hurricane in the Gulf too quickly to evacuate rigs and platforms, oil company officials and meteorologists were wary of Tropical Depression 10.


Some models had it as a hurricane at the mouth of the Mississippi River on Sept. 22.

Four days ahead of the storm’s predicted landfall, oil companies started evacuating workers and began the process of shutting down of about one-fourth of the nation’s oil supply.

On Sept. 21, the day before the storm was expected to hit land, 62 percent of the oil production in the Gulf, or about 800,000 barrels of oil, had been halted. That shut-in production helped force the price of oil to a new record.

The next day, when it was obvious the storm wouldn’t develop as feared, companies began ramping up production on platforms, many of which didn’t see even a drop of rain from the weather system.

“In hindsight we could have left everyone out there,” said Phil Smith, who facilitates Shell Oil’s evacuations with a team of 30 people who are responsible for the 1,400 workers on the company’s platforms and rigs in the Gulf. The company produces about 370,000 barrels equivalent of oil a day from its 20 manned platforms and four rigs in the Gulf. There are a total of 834 manned platforms and 89 rigs with 30,000 people working in the Gulf.

New Orleans Times-Picayune