MMS Says Gulf Oil Improving
An improvement has been made over the past month in oil and natural gas output in the Gulf of Mexico, which was interrupted last year when hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged production platforms. Just over 15 percent of the normal daily oil production in the region is still blocked from market by platform shutdowns, compared with 21.6 percent on May 3, according to the Minerals Management Service, which manages federal offshore leases. At the same time, 11 percent of the normal daily production of natural gas was still blocked from market Monday, down from 13 percent last month, the MMS said. Before the storms, the Gulf produced about 1.4 million barrels of oil and 10 billion cubic feet of gas daily. Since Katrina first threatened the Gulf on Aug.
Slow Recovery for GoM Oil Industry
The Gulf of Mexico's offshore petroleum industry is far from recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and at least one-sixth of the region's normal daily oil production will still be offline at the start of next storm season, the AP reported. Katrina and Rita destroyed 115 of the Gulf's 4,000 production platforms and damaged another 52, according to a report released last week by the Minerals Management Service, which manages federal offshore leases. The storms also damaged 183 pipelines, including 64 classified as major. Only 22 had been returned to service. There are about 33,000 miles of petroleum pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, 22,000 miles of which were exposed to the two storms.
