Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
New Year’s SALE: Up to 40% OFF InvestingPro+ CLAIM OFFER
U.S. offshore energy producers brace for Hurricane Zeta impact
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man rides his bicycle while palm trees sway in the wind as Hurricane Zeta approaches Cancun
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Energy firms and ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast were bracing on Tuesday for another test as Hurricane Zeta, the 11th hurricane of the season, entered the Gulf of Mexico.
BP (NYSE:BP), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Equinor evacuated oil workers and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) paused drilling as winds intensified to 85 mile-per-hour (136 kph). Pipeline operator Enbridge (NYSE:ENB) evacuated an offshore platform and on Tuesday plans to remove workers from a Louisiana natural gas processing plant.
Some oil producers were pulling workers for at least the sixth time since June, a process made more difficult by the novel coronavirus pandemic with workers required to be tested for the virus before returning to work.
Zeta was the third named storm this month to hit Mexico's Quintana Roo state, forecasters said, setting a new record for the month. On Monday, it became the 11th hurricane of the Atlantic season, which on average has six.
A hurricane watch was issued for parts of Louisiana to the Mississippi-Alabama border by the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). Zeta could hit the U.S. coast on Wednesday at or near hurricane strength, the NHC said.
Energy ports from Baton Rouge to Pascagoula were operating under advisories warning of the potential for gale force winds. A Louisiana deep water oil export port said it was implementing its inclement weather plan.
Energy producers shut 16%, or 293,656 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 6% of natural gas output, or 162.57 million cubic feet per day, according to data from the U.S. offshore energy regulator.
U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production accounts for about 17% of total U.S. crude oil output and 5% of total U.S. dry natural gas production.
In early Asia trading, U.S. and Brent crude futures both gained a fraction after falling more than 3% on Monday over fears of rising COVID-19 cases and increased crude supplies.
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.