BHP BILLITON says production at its 50,000 barrel-a-day Neptune facility will remain ‘shut-in’ until Hurricane Gustav has degraded to an acceptable level.
Many facilities, including Neptune, were evacuated as the storm approached the Gulf of Mexico on 28 August.
Other oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil, have begun to return crews to rigs not in the direct path of the hurricane and partially resume production. BHP says it will continue to monitor the storm before reopening the Neptune rig.
According to the US Minerals Management Service, over 90% of the 717 manned platforms in the Gulf were shut-in because of Gustav. The platforms produce around 1.3m barrels of oil and around 200m cubic metres of natural gas every day.
Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to the Typhoon rig jointly-owned by BHP and Chevron in 2005 after it was torn from its moorings.
Initial inspections of the Gulf Coast's extensive energy complex confirmed the storm was nowhere near as destructive as Katrina and Rita. However, a resumption of production and refining may be a few days away, or more.
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