Shell to Evacuate Further 200 People from Gulf of Mexico as Dean Approaches

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it will evacuate a further 200 people from its Gulf of Mexico operations today and will continue to evacuate as needed in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Dean.

The latest scheduled evacuations follow Saturday’s exodus of 380 people from the company’s operations in the western Gulf of Mexico, along the projected path of the hurricane.


A spokesman for the oil major said evacuations are of personnel
“non-essential to producing and drilling operations”, as well as the reduction of producing operations personnel to minimum levels.

As of midnight on Saturday, Shell had shut-in 23,000 barrels of oil per day and 47.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in preparation for the storm, which is heading towards Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

Rigzone